Following the recent publication of Minister Bruton’s Review, the Board of Caranua have announced that Caranua requires survivors who want to apply for funding supports from Caranua must complete and return an application form to apply for services by Wednesday 1st August 2018.
Please follow this to an ISL video by the Irish Deaf Society with this information. (Many thanks to the Irish Deaf Society for allowing us to share this on our website). https://vimeo.com/272957193
Additional ISL videos on our application process can be found by following this link: http://caranua.ie/how-to-apply/accessible-information/
The following are some questions and answers about how to apply to Caranua if you haven’t already done so and if you have already sent in your application to Caranua:
Is Caranua closing on 1st August 2018?
No. Caranua is not closing on 1st August 2018.
Caranua is asking survivors who have not yet applied for support funding to send in their application form to us by Wednesday 1st August 2018 to ensure that your application can be processed.
I have not applied to Caranua yet, how do I apply?
Please contact us as soon as possible. You can contact us by phone, email or post. Our office hours are 9.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Caranua can offer support, information, advice and advocacy services to survivors. The help we provide will depend on the needs and circumstances of each survivor eligible to apply to Caranua but the areas we can help with are:
- Health and Wellbeing
- Housing Support
- Education, Learning and Development
- Socially Active & Connected
To be eligible to apply, you must have spent time in an institution as a child, and received an award through settlement, Court or the Residential Institutions Redress Board in relation to your time in an institution.
If you have access to the internet you can download the Application Form Part 1 from our website www.caranua.ie here: http://caranua.ie/how-to-apply/how-do-i-make-an-application/ and email it back to apply@caranua.ie or post it back to us at Caranua, PO Box 12477, Dublin 1, Ireland.
If you would like us to send you a paper copy of the form just phone, email or write in to us, and we will post one out to you.
We will use the details you give us in the Application Form Part 1 to verify that you are eligible to apply to us. We also need to establish your identity to make sure that no one else is making an application in your name. When we receive your form, we will contact you within ten working days to let you know if you are eligible, or if we need more information.
You can send us in your identification documents with the Application Form if you like, or after you are verified as eligible we will contact you and ask for them.
We need two types of identification documents. You do not need to send us the original document, a copy is fine.
One document must show where you live. For example, you could send us a bill with your name and address on it.
The other document must have your photo on it. For example, you could send us a copy of your passport, or your bus pass.
When you send us your identification documents we will contact you within ten working days to tell you we have received them.
I have already sent in my Part 1 application Form and identification documents to Caranua, what do I need to do now?
Thank you for sending in your application to Caranua.
If you have received the following correspondence from us you do not need to contact us as your application has been received:
- If you have received a letter from Caranua confirming your eligibility to apply to us and that we have received your identity documents, you do not need to contact us as your application has been received.
- If you have received a letter from Caranua confirming that you will be assigned an advisor to help you with your application, you do not need to contact us as your application has been received.
If you haven’t received any of the correspondence listed above, please contact us as soon as possible to allow us to update you on your application with Caranua.
If you get through to our voicemail, please leave your number and let us know if it is ok to leave a message. We will call you back within 24 hours. If we cannot leave a message, we will try to contact you three times.
I have sent in my application and I received a letter that says I am eligible to apply, when will I be assigned an advisor?
Applications for support funding are assigned in order of the date you are deemed eligible to apply to Caranua.
The Board of Caranua have agreed to prioritise survivors who are first time applicants as they have not received any support from the Fund. This is to help Caranua towards ensuring that the remainder of the Fund is distributed as fairly and as equally as possible as the Fund is limited.
If you are not sure when you applied to Caranua please contact us and we will be happy to give you an update.
I am working with an Application Advisor; do I need to contact Caranua about this letter?
No, if you are currently working with an Application Advisor, you do not need to contact us. If you have a question for your Application Advisor about your application they will be happy to answer this for you.
I sent in my application form to Caranua but I have not been in contact for some time. What do I need to do now?
Thank you for sending in your application form to Caranua. Please contact us as soon as possible to discuss your application particularly if your contact details have changed as we may have been trying to contact you.
I have already reapplied for more services from Caranua, what do I need to do now?
The Board of Caranua have agreed to prioritise survivors who are first time applicants as they have not received any support from the Fund. This is to help Caranua towards ensuring that the remainder of the Fund is distributed as fairly and as equally as possible as the Fund is limited.
All reapplications sent into Caranua from survivors who have already received support are reviewed, but the processing timeframe for reapplications remains longer than a first-time application.
If you have re-applied for services from Caranua after 1st June 2016, your application will come under the 2016 criteria for funding support and the maximum amount of funding available in total for services is €15,000.
Due to the limited amount of the Fund remaining Caranua are unable to accept any more reapplications after 1st August 2018.
I know someone whom may be eligible to apply to Caranua. How can I help them apply?
Please ask them to contact us before 1st August 2018. The confidentiality of survivors who apply to us is very important. For this reason, we never share or discuss information about any individual, without their written permission.
My family member/ friend has applied for services but has not received this letter from Caranua
If your family member/ friend has not received a letter from Caranua please ask them to contact us and we can provide them with the information that is relevant to them. The confidentiality of survivors who apply to us is very important. For this reason, we never share or discuss information about any individual, without their written permission.
I have an appeal in progress about part of my application, what do I do now?
If you have a query about the status of a current appeal you should contact the Appeals Officers directly. The Appeals Officers are appointed by the Minister for Education and Skills and the appeals process is completely independent of Caranua. The Appeals Officers can be contacted in writing.
The email address for the Appeals Officer is caranuaappeals@education.gov.ie
The postal address is:
Department of Education and Skills
Cornamaddy
Athlone
Co Westmeath
Ireland
What has the Fund been spent on?
Caranua regularly publishes updates on how the Fund has been spent. These updates can be found on the website on the News and Monthly Updates sections.
Caranua has received almost €103M of the committed €110M contributions from the religious congregations.
Caranua was established under, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act, 2012 (Section 30), which states that all administration costs must be paid out of the Fund. Almost €8M has been spent on the administration of the Fund (including postage, printing, telephone costs, utilities, outreach events, staff costings, office accommodation, ICT, external audit, independent Appeal Officers costs etc).
The following has been spent on services for survivors who have applied to Caranua:
As at 30th April 2018, a total of €80.3 million had been spent, €72.5 million has been spent on services for survivors who have applied to Caranua
- Health €19.7 million
- Housing €51.3 million
- Education €1.3 million
- Exceptional Needs €0.19 million
What will the remainder of the Fund be spent on?
There are over 2,000 survivors currently working with an application advisor. The majority of the remaining Fund will be spent on their funding supports.
With the remaining Fund, the Board wants to strengthen our efforts to ensure any survivors who may be eligible to come forward and apply to the Fund.
Administration costs will also have to come out of the Fund, because the legislation that Caranua was established under (the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012) states that all administration costs must be paid out of the Fund.
Will you be placing adverts in the newspapers to inform eligible survivors about the application deadline?
Adverts were placed in the Sunday newspapers in Ireland, two in Northern Ireland, two in UK and one in USA on Sunday 9th June.
While we would have preferred to place advertisements in all relevant national and local newspapers, we were aware that any money spent on advertising must come out of the Fund. Therefore we decided that this was the most cost effective way to share this information.
We are also in contact with many services in relation to the application deadline, asking them to share this information through their networks, which helps us to reduce the amount of the Fund we spend on advertising.
Caranua’s contact details are:
Freephone from Ireland 1800 212477
Freephone from UK 0808 234 1303 (Charges may apply from some mobile networks)
From anywhere +353 1 8742277 (not a free-phone number from outside Ireland and the UK)
If you get through to our voicemail, please leave your number and let us know if it is ok to leave a message. We will call you back within 24 hours. If we cannot leave a message, we will try to contact you three times.
Address:
Caranua, PO Box 12477, Dublin 1, Ireland
Fax +353 1 874 5709
Email info@caranua.ie
