Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011

AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE CHILD CARE ACT 1991; TO MAKE FURTHER PROVISION IN RELATION TO THE CARE AND PROTECTION OF CHILDREN; TO AMEND THE CHILDREN ACT 2001; THE HEALTH ACT 2004 AND THE HEALTH ACT 2007; TO PROVIDE FOR THE DISSOLUTION OF THE CHILDREN ACTS ADVISORY BOARD AND THE TRANSFER OF ITS ASSETS, LIABILITIES AND EMPLOYEES TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH; TO REPEAL PART 11 OF THE CHILDREN ACT 2001; TO AMEND THE ADOPTION ACT 2010; AND TO PROVIDE FOR RELATED MATTERS.

[31st July, 2011]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

PART 1 Preliminary and General

1. Short title, collective citations and commencement.

1.— (1) This Act may be cited as the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011.

• (2) The Child Care Acts 1991 to 2007 and this Act, other than sections 27, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37 to 45, 47 and 49 may be cited together as the Child Care Acts 1991 to 2011.

• (3) The Children Acts 2001 to 2007, sections 27, 32, 33, 37 to 45 and 47 may be cited together as the Children Acts 2001 to 2011.

• (4) The Health Acts 1947 to 2010 and sections 35 and 36 may be cited together as the Health Acts 1947 to 2011.

• (5) The Adoption Act 2010 and section 49 may be cited together as the Adoption Acts 2010 and 2011.

• (6) This Act, other than sections 7 and 49, shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision, and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

2. Interpretation.

2.— In this Act—

“Act of 2001” means the Children Act 2001;

“Act of 2004” means the Health Act 2004;

“Act of 2007” means the Health Act 2007;

“Minister” means the Minister for Health;

“Principal Act” means the Child Care Act 1991.

PART 2 Amendment of Principal Act

3. Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act.

3.— Section 2 (as amended by the Act of 2007) of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (1)—

• (a) by inserting the following definitions:

“ ‘Act of 2001’ means the Children Act 2001;

‘interim special care order’ has the meaning assigned to it by Part IVA (as amended by the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011);

‘special care’ has the meaning assigned to it by Part IVA (as amended by the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011);

‘special care order’ has the meaning assigned to it by Part IVA (as amended by the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011);

‘special care unit’ has the meaning assigned to it by Part IVA (as amended by the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011).”;

and

• (b) in the definition of “children’s residential centre” (inserted by the Act of 2007), by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (d) of that definition:

• “(da) a special care unit,”.

4. Amendment of section 3 of Principal Act.

4.— Section 3 of the Principal Act is amended by deleting subsection (4).

5. Amendment of section 4 of Principal Act.

5.— Section 4 (as amended by the Act of 2004) of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (2), by inserting “, IVA (as amended by the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011)” after “IV”.

6. Amendment of section 9 of Principal Act.

6.— F1[…]

7. Amendment of section 12 of Principal Act.

7.— Section 12 (as amended by the Act of 2004) of the Principal Act is amended—

• (a) in subsection (1)(b) by inserting “or an application for a warrant under section 35” after “under section 13”, and

• (b) in subsection (4) by inserting “or an order referred to in section 35 has been made in respect of the child” after “person acting in loco parentis”.

8. Amendment of section 18 of Principal Act.

8.— Section 18 (as amended by the Act of 2004) of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following subsections after subsection (8):

• “(9) Where a care order—

  • (a) has been made in respect of a child and—

    • (i) during the period for which the care order has effect a special care order or an interim special care order is made in respect of the child, and

    • (ii) the care order ceases to have effect during the period for which the special care order or interim special care order has effect,

    or

  • (b) has not been made in respect of a child and a special care order or an interim special care order has been made in respect of that child,

  the Health Service Executive may apply for a care order in respect of that child during the period for which the special care order or interim special care order has effect.

• (10) Where the District Court makes a care order, pursuant to the application referred to in subsection (9), during the period for which the special care order or interim special care order has effect, it shall direct that the care order shall take effect immediately following the expiration of the special care order or, as the case may be, interim special care order.”.

9. Amendment of section 19 of Principal Act.

9.— Section 19 (as amended by the Act of 2004) of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following subsections after subsection (7):

• “(8) Where a supervision order—

  • (a) has been made in respect of a child and—

    • (i) during the period for which the supervision order has effect a special care order or an interim special care order is made in respect of the child, and

    • (ii) the supervision order ceases to have effect during the period for which the special care order or interim special care order has effect,

    or

  • (b) has not been made in respect of a child and a special care order or interim special care order has been made in respect of that child,

  the Health Service Executive may apply for a supervision order in respect of that child during the period for which the special care order or interim special care order has effect.

• (9) Where the District Court makes the supervision order, pursuant to the application referred to in subsection (8), during the period for which the special care order or interim special care order has effect, it shall direct that the supervision order shall take effect immediately following the expiration of the special care order or, as the case may be, interim special care order.”.

10. Amendment of Part IVA of Principal Act.

10.— Part IVA of the Principal Act (inserted by the Act of 2001) is amended by substituting the following Part for Part IVA—