A new report from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has found inconsistencies in the state’s child services that “need to be improved”.
IQA conducted 56 inspections throughout 2021 and found that although there were improvements in compliance with national standards and regulations on child services, there was further room for improvement in management, governance and resource services.
According to the report, many children continued to experience delays in accessing services, or a care placement that was appropriate for their needs. A small number of children have also experienced delays in getting care due to the lack of available suitable placements.
However, HIAQ found that where children had a dedicated social worker whom they consistently met, they received a “good quality service”.
HIQA’s head of child services, Eva Boyle, said 2021 was “another challenging year” for child services due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the cyber attack on Tusla’s information systems.
“Our inspections have found a continuous commitment to providing good quality and safe services to children; however, there have been inconsistencies in many services provided to children that need to be improved,” she said.
“One persistent finding of our inspections was the ongoing challenge that Tusla experienced in adequately providing its services and the impact it had on children.
“It is crucial that children have access to the right service for them at the right time to support their development and promote their safety and rights.
“We have highlighted these findings to Tusla throughout the year, along with cases where there have been delays in providing appropriate placements to children and Tusla has developed a residential strategy to guide their future planning and delivery of residential care.”
According to the report, many children did not have a dedicated social worker or experienced several changes in social workers over short periods of time.
While Tusla employed other professional groups and used social care staff to reduce the risk associated with reduced staff levels, “vacancies in many services continued”.
The report said there is also a lack of suitable foster care placements for children in need of admission to care.
Meanwhile, towards the end of last year, the number of children who did not have a dedicated social worker increased in many service areas.
“HIQA is committed to the continuous improvement of services available to children and their families. We listened to what children had to say about their care and used their views to assess the performance of services. The majority of children who were spoken to were positive about their experiences of the services they received, ”Ms Boyle added.
Throughout 2021, HIAQ inspected 26 statutory child residential centers, 12 child protection and welfare services, statutory and private foster care services, and the Oberstown Child Detention Campus.