Free Childcare for Homeless Children
Children aged 0-5 years to benefit from €8.25m change to the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme
Statement by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone
Thursday 15th December, 2016
Children aged 0-5 years whose parents are homeless are to be offered free childcare for 25-hours a week under an change to the Community Childcare Subvention scheme announced by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone.
Families registered as homeless in the Dublin region are to benefit from next month with funding of €8.25m being made available – other areas are also expected to follow.
85% of children listed as homeless are in the Dublin area.
Making the announcement Minister Zappone said:
“This is an important initiative targeting a particularly vulnerable group of children who need additional supports given their situation.
The provision of up to 25 hours of free childcare a week to include a daily meal will lift a huge burden from families.
The scheme is also designed to help those transitioning from homelessness to permanent accommodation.
Focus Ireland will work closely with my Department to identify eligible families. The Dublin based City and County Childcare Committees will encourage and support relevant childcare providers to engage with the scheme.
The scheme is being available within Dublin initially as 85% (2,110) of homeless children across the state are within Dublin. We will work to extend the scheme to other areas outside of Dublin.
The scheme will start next month and I have asked officials to start identifying families who qualify and inform them of this new entitlement.”
Speaking at the launch of the new initiative, Catherine Maher, National Director of Services at Focus Ireland, said.
“As the lead charity working with families that are homeless, Focus Ireland has been very concerned for some time about the problems these families face in accessing early childhood supports. Early childhood supports are important for most families, but they are particularly important for children struggling with the fact that their families are currently homeless. We warmly welcome the Minister Zappone’s recognition of this problem, and her rapid action in addressing it, leading to the new initiative she is announcing today.
Of course the €8.25m funding is very important, but what is particularly welcome is the way in which the initiative has been flexibly designed to recognise the particular difficulties which these families experience. I want to particularly acknowledge the dedication of the staff in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and their willingness to combine their expertise with ours in designing the scheme. I think it demonstrates again that collaboration between all agencies involved in this issue is the best way to tackle the enormous problem of family homelessness which confronts us."
ENDS//
For more details contact:
Jerry O’Connor
Department of Children and Youth Affairs
087 229 4881
Michelle Moran
Focus Ireland
086 468 0442
NOTE TO EDITORS
Note on key elements of the scheme
· All children living in homeless conditions, aged 0-5 inclusive, will be eligible for the scheme.
· The Department of Children and Youth Affairs will work with Focus Ireland to ensure that all eligible children will be aware of the scheme and supported in accessing the scheme
· Children will be eligible for 25 hours per weeks, which will include 15 hours of free pre-school (ECCE) where they are eligible for this, or school hours. School children will avail of this free childcare outside of term time. This free childcare will be available for 50 weeks of the year.
· Contracted childcare services will be provided with a flat rate of €110 per week, per child for these part-time children.
· Parents will not be asked to pay any top–up or co-payment for these part-time hours.
· Participating service providers must accept the terms of the scheme when signing up to the programme.
· A daily meal must be provided for each child (which will be included in the subvention rate).
· The estimated maximum annual cost of the scheme would be €8.25m based on current data. This funding will be taken from the available 2017 Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) allocation.
