A total of 19 children and young people in Tusla aftercare or known to Tusla died last year according to a report published on Thursday.
Ten boys or young men were among them, with nine girls or young women.
Scant details are included in the 2024 annual report from the National Review Panel (NRP).
The NRP, which is independent of Tusla, reviews deaths of children and young people in care, aftercare or known to care services.
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It also reviews serious incidents that may have caused “potentially life-threatening injury or serious and permanent impairment” to a child or young person known to or in the care of Tusla, of which there were six last year.
Of those who died, eight were as a result of natural causes, four died by suicide, two in accidents and five remain undetermined.
None was in care at the time, but two had been and were in Tusla aftercare when they died, while 17 were known to social work services.
Similar to 2023, the majority of deaths belonged to two age cohorts – infants under 12 months and young people in their teens.
In all, nine were infants (six boys and three girls); two were aged between one and five years (one boy and one girl); one, a boy, was aged between six and 10 years; two, both boys or young men, were aged between 17 and 20 years, and one young woman was older than 20.
In terms of where they were living when they died, four were in Dublin/mid-Leinster, six in Dublin/Northeast; three in the southeast, one in the southwest, three in the West and two in the Northwest.
“Of the 19 deaths notified in 2024, a decision was made to review nine,” says the report. “It was decided not to review eight of the cases notified, and decisions on a further two are still pending while further information is awaited.”
Executive summaries of four cases from previous years were published last year, with no reviews of any death this year published.
Those published concerned an infant who died as a result of an accident, a teenage boy with special needs who died accidentally, a 14-year-old girl who died by suicide and 17-year-old girl who died by suicide.
The 14-year-old, given the pseudonym Lisa in the report, was in care for a number of years when she died.
She had had “numerous placement breakdowns due to her challenging behaviour” says the report. “She had settled after a period in special care but sadly took her own life following an incident where she had seriously assaulted a staff member when she was in a step-down placement.
“The review found that she had disjointed mental healthcare, which prevented her from making a trusting relationship with a clinician. It also noted that social work shortages as well as lack of suitable placements had a negative impact on the way the case was managed.”
NRP chairwoman Dr Helen Buckley said the report’s recommendations concerned “frontline services, availability of suitable placements and inter-agency working between Tusla and the HSE particularly in relation to mental health services.
“As with previous years, suicide is one of the biggest factors in the death of young people and a stronger inter-agency approach is needed to fully support our young people experiencing mental health difficulties”.
