evidence: Professor Ray Jones will be the independent lead reviewer assisted by an Advisory Panel. Members of the Advisory Panel are Her Honour Judge Patricia Smyth, Professor Pat Dolan, and Marie Roulston, OBE (former Director of Children’s services), along with young people and parents/ carers with personal experience of children’s social care services. The young people, parents and carers are being independently recruited and supported by the Voice of Young People in Care (VOYPIC) and Children in Northern Ireland (CiNI). Explaining why the review is being undertaken, the Minister said: "It has been more than a decade since there has been a fundamental examination of children’s social care services in Northern Ireland. The pandemic has shone a spotlight on the importance of such services and exposed a level of fragility within the system for the most vulnerable children and young people." Northern Ireland has the highest number of children in care since the introduction of the Children Order in 1995 and there has been a sharp increase since the start of the pandemic. The Children Order was designed to support and protect children to the highest extent possible. The review will look at the support services for families, the care of children away from their families, and how the services are currently structured as well as looking at the support for staff.