Submission to the Department of Children, Disability and Equality on the Development of a National Alternative Care Strategy
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In December 2025, EPIC made a submission to the Department of Children, Disability and Equality to inform the development of a National Alternative Care Strategy. The submission sets out a rights-based vision for alternative care in Ireland, grounded in the lived experiences of children in care and young care-leavers.
It draws from EPIC’s advocacy and participation work, and highlights systemic issues that continue to undermine stability, rights, and outcomes for care-experienced youth. In particular, it emphasises the State’s role as corporate parent, with a duty to ensure that children in care and young care-leavers are supported to thrive and transition safely to adulthood.
Any policy framework will only be as good as the resources and focus it receives. This vision must have an ambition for the alternative care system and the quality of services provided to children and young people, inspiring commitment from all stakeholders and ensuring that every care-experienced child and young person can reach their full potential.
Key Recommendations
Listen to the care-experienced community. Their experiences must be at the heart of policy and practice, and their involvement should be central to the consultation process for this framework, as well as in its oversight and implementation.
Ensure children in care and young care-leavers have ongoing access to independent advocacy, with this right established on a statutory basis to guarantee that their views are consistently heard and acted upon.
Implement a whole-of -Government responsibility for children in care and young people with care experience. This should include clear obligations on relevant departments and agencies to provide access to services, such as disability services, educational supports, mental health, addiction and other health services.
Ensure consistent, high-quality residential care and reduce reliance on private providers, including ending the use of unregulated emergency placements (SEAs).
Provide statutory aftercare supports for all care-leavers, including housing, disability services, education, and early planning for those at risk of homelessness.
Strengthen sibling contact and relationships, including legislative protections and prioritisation in care planning and resourcing.
Examine the experiences of care-experienced parents to develop policy that supports them. This should include accessible, community-based services and trauma-informed supports.
Address the specific needs of separated children seeking international protection, including access to social workers, aftercare, education, and safeguarding measures.
Ensure children in care who come into contact with the criminal justice system have access to trauma-informed, restorative approaches.
Commit to multi-annual budgeting to build capacity and workforce planning.
Protect, maintain and build upon foster care and increase recognition and support for kinship care.
Implement the External Review of Special Care (2025) in full, including infrastructure funding for a centre of excellence and recommendations in relation building capacity in residential care and step-down facilities.
Include strong key performance indicators, and a robust oversight structure that listens to the voice of care-experience and can live beyond the life of any individual government.
