45B.—(1) The Child and Family Agency shall, where any need is identified in an assessment of need carried out in respect of an eligible child in the care of the Agency, prepare an aftercare plan for that child.

(2) An eligible child who is no longer in the care of the Child and Family Agency, or his or her parent, guardian or a person acting in loco parentis to him or her, may request the Agency to prepare an aftercare plan for that eligible child.

(3) Upon receipt of a request under subsection (2), the Child and Family Agency shall, where any need is identified in an assessment of need carried out in respect of the eligible child to whom the request relates, prepare an aftercare plan for that child.

(4) An aftercare plan prepared under subsection (1) or (3) shall set out the assistance that the Child and Family Agency may provide to the eligible child on or after that child attaining the age of 18 years to meet his or her needs as identified in the assessment of need, being assistance which may be provided to that person—

(a) directly by the Agency, or

(b) in accessing a service which is provided by—

(i) a public body or a person on behalf of the public body, where he or she may be eligible for the service, or

(ii) any other person, not being a public body, referred to in subsection (7)(b).

(5) The Child and Family Agency shall prepare an aftercare plan under subsection (1) —

(a) at least 6 months before he or she attains the age of 18 years, or

(b) within 3 months of that child having become an eligible child,

whichever is the later.

(6) Where the Child and Family Agency is required, in accordance with subsection (3), to prepare an aftercare plan following receipt of a request under subsection (2), the Agency shall prepare that plan—

(a) at least 6 months before the eligible child referred to in subsection (2) attains the age of 18 years, or

(b) within 3 months of receipt of that request,

whichever is the later.

(7) The Child and Family Agency, in preparing an aftercare plan for an eligible child under subsection (1) or (3) —

(a) shall consult with a public body which provides, or any person who provides on behalf of the public body, a service for which the child may be eligible, and

(b) may consult with any person, not being a public body, which provides or arranges to provide a service.

(8) Notwithstanding section 9 of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, where the Child and Family Agency, in preparing an aftercare plan under subsection (1) or (3) has been unable, after reasonable efforts have been made, to ascertain the views of the eligible child to whom the plan relates, the Agency shall prepare an aftercare plan for that eligible child.

(9) The Child and Family Agency, in preparing an aftercare plan under subsection (1) or (3) for an eligible child—

(a) shall take all reasonable steps to consult with each parent and guardian of, and person acting in loco parentis to, that child, and

(b) may consult with any other person who the Child and Family Agency considers has a close personal or professional relationship with that child,

unless the Agency considers that in all the circumstances it is not in the best interests of that child to consult with any of those persons.

(10) The Child and Family Agency shall, in preparing an aftercare plan for an eligible child under subsection (1) or (3), have due regard to the resources available to the Agency to implement that plan.

(11) In this section—

"guardian", in relation to an eligible child, means a person who—

(a) is a guardian of the child pursuant to the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 and who—

(i) is a parent of the child and has custody of that child, or

(ii) not being a parent of the child, has custody of that child to the exclusion of any living parent of that child, or

(b) is appointed to be a guardian of the child by—

(i) deed or will, or

(ii) order of a court in the State,

and has not been removed from office;

"public body" has the same meaning as it has in section 2 of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013;

"service" means a service or support, available to or accessible by the public generally or a section of the public, where the service or support would assist in meeting any need of a person identified in the assessment of need carried out in respect of that person.]