The Health Information and Standards Directorate in Ireland's HIQA has launched a public consultation on Draft National Standards for Children’s Residential Centres. This consultation aims to gather the views of children living in residential care, their families and people involved in caring for children in residential care on the draft national standards. This feedback will be considered and will inform the development of the final National Standards.
The public consultation will run until 5pm on Thursday 02 November 2017.
Purpose and scope of the draft national standards
The national standards will apply to all children’s residential centres. They aim to give a shared voice to the expectations of all children living in residential centres and all those involved in their care. They are intended to show what a child-centred, safe and effective children’s residential centre should look like, and in particular they:
- create a basis for improving the quality and safety of children’s residential care by identifying strengths and highlighting areas for improvement
- provide children living in residential centres and their families with a guide to what they should expect from the service.
Once approved by the Minister these will become nationally mandated standards placing a responsibility on all service providers and funding bodies to commence a programme of implementation and assessment of compliance.
