FOSTER CARE services for vulnerable children in parts of Dublin were “in a state of crisis” when they were inspected last year by the State’s health standards watchdog.
In reports published yesterday, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) revealed that many child protection concerns relating to children in care had been ignored, while many young people had not had contact with social workers for years.
The authority’s chief executive, Dr Tracey Cooper, said the Health Service Executive had failed in its statutory duty of care to significant numbers of children in the Dublin north-west and north-central areas.
Despite the fact that many of these failures were known for years, they were still present in 2009 and 2010.
Among Hiqa’s main findings were that:
- Two children had been left in unsafe placements for years, even though allegations of abuse – subsequently confirmed – had been brought to the attention of social workers.
- A child who had run away from foster carers, amid allegations of physical and emotional abuse by them, was returned to them by the HSE, prior to the outcome of an assessment into the allegation. This carer was later removed from the area's foster care panel.
- Some children had not been visited by social workers for up to 10 years, while as many as half of the children in foster care did not have a social worker assigned to them.
- Major deficiencies in the vetting and assessment of carers, especially relatives who are carers.
However, inspectors found that foster care in the Dublin north area were mostly safe and well organised.
In general, Dr Cooper said the reports highlighted “a lack of recognition at senior management level that the childcare regulations exist to safeguard and protect vulnerable children.”
She said she believed the inspections would be a “watershed moment” in driving improvements in quality of safeguarding children in Ireland.
Dr Cooper said initial indications were that Dublin north-west and north-central showed an “abnormal” level of failure compared to other parts of the country.
In a statement last night, the HSE said a comprehensive reform programme was under way to address shortfalls in its childcare services.
It said the practice of placing children with non-relative, unapproved carers had ceased, while most children and foster carers now had an allocated social worker.
Minister for Children Barry Andrews said it was “unacceptable” that compliance with basic regulations should vary so widely across the Dublin area.
“It is not good enough that the HSE would wait until Hiqa point out the many deficits identified in these reports before making improvements,” he said.
Mr Andrews also rejected suggestions that responsibility for childcare services should be removed from the Health Service Executive.
He said social workers needed to have close links with other health professionals in areas such as public health and speech and language therapy.
Social work also needed to be “plugged into” the development of new primary care facilities.
“Even if we were to try to set up a new structure, that could take a number of years and we would have the same arguments over legacy issues that we have today,” Mr Andrews added.
Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin described the reports as “devastating” and said the failures would be repeated unless there were sanctions against those responsible.
Fine Gael said the HSE was “out of control” and Mr Andrews continued to shirk responsibility for it, while Labour’s Róisín Shortall questioned whether the HSE had the capacity to provide a child protection service.
The Irish Association of Social Workers welcomed publication of the reports and called for an end to inequalities in service provision.