Children leaving residential care should begin preparation for the move at least two years in advance, according to new standards issued yesterday.
The standards, published by the Minister for Children, Ms Mary Hanafin, deal with a range of issues, from children's rights to accommodation standards.
While many young people do well after leaving care, some fail to cope properly on their own and form a relatively high proportion of those who are intermittently or permanently homeless, research by Focus Ireland has shown.
The standards published yesterday say that a plan to prepare the young person for leaving care should be in place two years before their departure, usually at 18 years of age.
"Young people up to a minimum age of 21 should be supported, as they request, by the aftercare service," the standards say.
Their publication was welcomed by the Irish Association of Young People in Care, and by Barnardos. "There are approximately 4,000 young people in residential care in Ireland, and these standards represent a good foundation for providing quality care and safeguarding the children's welfare," Ms Catherine Carty, national co-ordinator of IAYPIC said.
"Young people in care wish to be consulted and involved in decisions made about them and their lives, and it is encouraging to see in these standards of care that there is a strong requirement to consult young people themselves," she said.
IAYPIC is an association for children and young people in residential or foster care in Ireland, currently or in the past.
Barnardos' chief executive, Mr Owen Keenan, welcomed the standards and said they should be extended to institutions answerable to the Department of Education and Science. Institutions to which the standards apply are answerable to the health boards and the Department of Health and Children.
"Barnardos notes that there are a number of children in Ireland to whom these standards do not apply, and these are the children who are being cared for in Department of Education care establishments," Mr Keenan said. "Barnardos hopes that this inadequacy will be shortly addressed and that the same safeguards will be provided for all children in care."
Ms Hanafin introduced the standards booklet at a two-day conference on best standards in children's residential centres, held in Athlone.