Urgent clarity needed from Minister for Children

The Minister for Children must move to immediately clarify the situation that has reportedly arisen where a child has been removed from the care of their grandparents as they were deemed too old.

While the welfare of the child is always of the upmost concern I think we would all agree that keeping a family together should be a priority whenever it is a genuine possibility. 

The passing of the Children’s Referendum was meant to ensure that we took a child centred approach to all decision making in cases such as this one. Every single case must be examined on its own merits with the best interests of the child being paramount. We must not end up in a situation where stability or access to biological family is being restricted because of inflexibility or a lack of common sense decision making. 

Finally the Minister must make it clear that there is no ageism involved when decisions of this importance are being made.