Children's Minister Katherine Zappone will lead a fact-finding mission to New York starting today to improve state agency co-operation on child protection.
Representatives from the Gardaí, child and family agency Tusla and other government officials will join her in meeting officials who co-operate in the provision of child protection services there.
It comes after an audit conducted by the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Dr Geoffrey Shannon earlier this year found poor levels of inter-agency co-operation on the matter.
Speaking from New York, Dr Shannon says an advocacy centre the delegation is visiting in the Bronx tomorrow will hopefully provide a model Ireland can follow.
"I identified a model of best practice in the Bronx which reflected modern thinking on how to deal with this issue," she said.
"We've been talking about inter-agency co-operation for some time, and my view is that what we need now is a far-reaching change to ensure that children don't slip through the cracks.
"It's so important that we have a model where agencies work together to ensure that no child is left behind."
