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Ten-fold increase in a decade in number of children from State care reaching out for help

Children as young as five years old required the support of advocates last year.

THERE HAS BEEN a consistent rise in the number of children living in State care and care leavers seeking supports in areas of homelessness, aftercare supports and placement breakdowns in the past 10 years. 

The new data is contained in a report from advocacy organisation EPIC, which provides support and advice to children and adults who have experience living in either foster care or residential care, published later today. 

In 2009, some 61 people contacted EPIC for help and advice. That number has consistently risen over the past 10  years and in 2018, some 653 people sought help from the organisation. It represented an 11% increase on the 589 cases opened in 2017.

Some 6,000 children live in care placements – either foster or residential care – supported by the State after it was deemed unsafe for them to remain in their family home.

Upon reaching the age of 18, they leave State care and become care leavers, with Child and Family Agency Tusla then tasked with ensuring they can secure accommodation, education or employment under an aftercare package.

Almost a fifth, or 19%, of cases referred to EPIC involved people seeking advice about their care placement, while a further 106, or 17% of cases related to accommodation. 

Aftercare was the third most frequent issue raised in advocacy cases with 94 people requiring supports in this area – 14% of the total number of cases in 2018.

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CEO of EPIC Terry Dignan put the rise in people seeking support from EPIC down to a “lack of resources” in the State care system which has lead to a greater demand for advocacy. 

“I think we’re developing a care system and a child protection system right now and it’s ongoing, but as long as we’re in the development stage there will always be young people needing help,” he said. 

“We’re getting people contacting us who are in a system which isn’t fully developed and is inconsistent, and we’re getting the people who are at the end of all these inconsistencies.”

The average age across all cases was 19 years old, but the organisation saw a variety of ages, as low as five years old in cases involving children currently in care, and up to 84 years old for those with care experience. 

One case involved a 13-year-old who wanted more frequent overnight visits with their mother and two siblings.

Another involved a 23-year-old who had fallen into homelessness in the west of Ireland and who had spent a period of time in residential care. 

In North Dublin, a 17-year-old living in residential care was told he would have to leave and find his own accommodation before he would sit his Leaving Cert exams.  

The highest number of referrals are coming in from 18 to 21-year-olds and that is the transition period, people who are transitioning out of care into the aftercare system.

“They’re leaving and going out on their own and that’s where they’re most vulnerable,” Dignan said. 

“I think if we look at nearest neighbours in the UK, they are far more developed in terms of where they are at but they still have a lot of the same issues that we have.”

“It’s not as bleak a landscape as it was years ago but it’s still in development,” he added 

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    Mute Gaius Gracchus
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:05 PM

    So they have entered the Renaissance period,only another 600 years to go lads

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    Mute Michael J Collins
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:46 PM

    Gaius
    You should recognise the huge advance this is for Saudi Arabia. Criticism is just a churlish and unhelpful contribution.

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    Mute Gaius Gracchus
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:50 PM

    Howya Mick :)

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    Mute dublinlad72
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    Jan 11th 2013, 5:12 PM

    @Michael,

    Yeah… You shut up!

    :-P

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    Mute Anto de Chav
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    Jan 12th 2013, 10:24 AM

    Chronologically Islam is about 600years behind the Christian west so your comment is spot on….

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    Mute Peter O Foyle
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    Jan 11th 2013, 3:51 PM

    Of course … they all have lovely bottoms

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    Mute willy stryker
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:05 PM

    And he’s gonna marry all of them.

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    Mute Chris Massey
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:21 PM

    Peter you would happily motorboat those Saudi chicks!!

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    Mute the lost lenore
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:40 PM

    30? That must be one big ass sammich he’s looking for.

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    Mute CABK
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    Jan 11th 2013, 3:51 PM

    Disgusting patriarchal country.

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    Mute Ruairi O' Sullivan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 5:37 PM

    And Ireland is a beacon of decency, respect and honesty!

    People in glass houses……..

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    Mute CABK
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    Jan 11th 2013, 6:19 PM

    Perspective Ruairi! If I were to walk in a street in Saudi Arabia with a man that is not my relative I could be arrested for being a prostitute (me by the way, the man is fine its obviously the womans fault). Ireland is by no means perfect but I feel lucky to live here in comparison to how women are treated in the middle east/asia.

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    Mute Ruairi O' Sullivan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 7:44 PM

    Fair point carb…..

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    Mute Dom Morgan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 10:09 PM

    You would not be arrested for being a prostitute and the man would not be fine. You would both be in same trouble.

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    Mute Martin Sinnott
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:06 PM

    Will the Pope follow !

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    Mute ManOnTheStreet
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    Jan 11th 2013, 5:36 PM

    Of course he will. Right after he catches that flying pig.

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    Mute Ruairi O' Sullivan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 5:39 PM

    Maybe he’ll allow women to do more than clean the church and cook the priests dinner…………

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    Mute Lieutenant Worf
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    Jan 11th 2013, 5:48 PM

    @ Ruairi – I presume you’re alluding to the myth that all priests have housekeepers. This is false. Second for the bigger houses that have they are employees who are paid. Third how many people do you know employ a male housekeeper? Your argument is a nonsense.

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    Mute dublinlad72
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    Jan 11th 2013, 6:30 PM

    @Mr Worf.

    You shut up.

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    Mute Ruairi O' Sullivan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 7:24 PM

    @Mr worf

    My argument? What argument. I was stating a fact that in the eyes of the church, women are for little more than cooking and cleaning.

    If I were to “argue” the point, I would bring some facts to the table, like how im the early christian church, there ‘used’ to be women priests and even women popes. I would argue that most ancient religions were matriarchal as we were all born from women.

    But I’m not arguing the point as still in Ireland, there are morons who believe a story written and rewritten over thousands of years to be factual.

    These morons ignore the screaming evidence that this “story” is not even original but copied from the story of Isis, written over 2500 years before jebus fell out of his virgin, but married mother! (Look it up, also the Noah story was copied from Greek mythology, zeus wiped man from the earth in flood)

    These same morons accept that their so-called savior is responsible for all the good in the world, but the bad is their fault.

    ………………..rant over……..I DARE a Jehovah witness to call to my house today

    These morons have pumped countless monies into

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    Mute dublinlad72
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    Jan 11th 2013, 7:43 PM

    Ruairi,

    That was beautiful.

    Brings a tear to this Atheist’s eye.

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    Mute Ruairi O' Sullivan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 8:00 PM

    @dublinlad

    Anything I can do to help the poor initiated escape their conditioning.

    I forgot to mention that in the original writings, Jesus was born around April, but the church changed it hundreds of years later to make it easier to convert ” pagans”.

    If I may quote a great man…….

    ‘Ah pidy da food’…..Mr T (B.A Baracus)

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    Mute dublinlad72
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    Jan 11th 2013, 8:14 PM

    Where have you been all my life?! Haha.

    I often do wonder why on earth people believe some of the tripe that the Church says.

    Honestly!, a bunch of celibate old men, who have not changed their ways in over 2,000 years, trying to tell the world how to live. Don’t even get me started when they take a moral high ground… Baffling!

    But hey! Maybe one day people will all wake up and think…. (Play from 1:10)

    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1b2_1320116014

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    Mute Gaius Gracchus
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    Jan 11th 2013, 8:55 PM

    Thanks Ruairi,saved me typing all that!

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    Mute Gaius Gracchus
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    Jan 11th 2013, 8:59 PM

    Another point is that in the early Roman church popes were allowed marry,but that was stopped because Rome got pissed off with their kids inheriting their wealth and land,they wanted to keep it all to themselves,something that’s conveniently brushed under the carpet

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    Mute Ted Power
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:03 PM

    They can sit at the table providing they lay it and make some nice cakes first!

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    Mute Rory Conway
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:22 PM

    And serve both before clearing away and washing up.

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    Mute Jamie Mccormack
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:37 PM

    Responsible for countless human-rights abuse’s, the maltreatment of women, the impoverishment of their people etc. whilst they themselves are disgustingly-wealthy… Not a nice bunch. However, they seem to get on very well with the Bush family.

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    Mute graham galvin
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:45 PM

    who are equally not a nice bunch.

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    Mute RobertOMaingain
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:56 PM

    Friend works there said its like the Dark Ages

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    Mute Kieran Fitzgerald
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    Jan 11th 2013, 3:56 PM

    Well, that’s the beginning of the end.

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    Mute kingstown
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:20 PM

    Maybe Mary Coughlan would like to go to Saudi and join that Council. One way of getting rid of her

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    Mute Michael Hayes
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:08 PM

    It’s all downhill from here… But seriously, a step in the right direction at least. Once they don’t introduce “quotas” like we’re planning too.

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    Mute David Hearne
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:12 PM

    At least it’s a step in the right direction

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    Mute Mick Jordan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 9:12 PM

    In fairness this a huge step for the Saudis. I know many of you will criticise me for saying so. But the treatment of women in Saudi is not the fault of the royal family but of Saudi culture as a whole. The Saudis living in the hinterlands are extremely conservative. They have treated their women folk in this manner for thousands of years long before Muhammad was even born. And they do not like change. The Royal family are only a symptom of the culture as a whole. The Talibans treatment of females is the same. Its going to take centuries for them to alter their way of thinking. We in the west have only given the vote to women 100 odd years ago. Up to the seventies here if a woman was working in the civil service she had to leave the job when she got married. She was expected to be a home maker and mother. And that was societies general view.

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    Mute padraig
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    Jan 11th 2013, 5:59 PM

    Steady on Saudis. Next, you might be allowing women to drive!

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    Mute Irene Ryan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:24 PM

    That’s good of him a real gent

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    Mute Willie Penwright
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    Jan 11th 2013, 5:32 PM

    Those medieval misogynists would be history without American and European weapons.

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    Mute john dilllon
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    Jan 11th 2013, 5:14 PM

    Too be fair ,the lads down the pub didn’t see this coming, but reckon it’s a welcome move

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    Mute dublinlad72
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    Jan 11th 2013, 6:30 PM

    Are you Richard Lennon in disguise ?

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    Mute RobertOMaingain
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    Jan 12th 2013, 12:11 AM

    If he is former US special forces he is…lol.

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    Mute Jonathan McDade
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:06 PM

    Saudi Arabia they call International Women’s Rights Day, Tuesday!

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    Mute Joe Sixtwo
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    Jan 11th 2013, 8:01 PM

    A disgusting regime and vile society.

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    Mute ellen gough
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    Jan 11th 2013, 8:32 PM

    thank goodness! any change for the better is good!

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    Mute Gus Whearity
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    Jan 11th 2013, 6:23 PM

    A step to far!!!!

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    Mute Larry Murphy
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    Jan 11th 2013, 7:02 PM

    Where is far? Too much to ask?

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    Mute RobertOMaingain
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    Jan 12th 2013, 6:48 AM

    Despite all this zionist inspired rhetoric over Iran at least there they can vote (since 1963), drive their own cars as well as taxis and are members of parliment.Saudi doesnt recognize the state of Israel either.

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    Mute Tommy Hornblower
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    Jan 11th 2013, 5:46 PM

    God bless that man

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    Mute Kieran Harvey
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    Jan 11th 2013, 9:33 PM

    Well one have to commend the ‘no female drivers’ rule at least! :-P

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    Mute C.P. Horan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 7:59 PM

    No ladies day in the Saudi golf clubs though can’t be all bad!

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    Mute Niall Lonergan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 11:41 PM

    Biggest mistake of his life!

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