Orphans and their guardians must be adequately supported by the State, “be it financially, emotionally or otherwise”, according to Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Children and Youth Affairs Anne Rabbitte.
Dep Rabbitte, who is Fianna Fáil TD for Galway East is calling on the Fine Gael led administration to “step up and do more and develop a whole of Government approach to supporting orphans and their guardians”.
In 2017, c1,500 people were in receipt of a guardian payment in respect of almost 2,000 children. While Dep Rabbitte acknowledged this was a “relatively small cohort of people”, she said applying for a guardian’s payment should “automatically trigger a wraparound support service involving the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, and the Department of Health”. She added that services such as counselling should also be “readily available to children and their guardians”.
