Children in Donegal were put at risk by inadequate systems for identifying threats posed by sex offenders, an inspection of childcare services in the area has found.
The report also says staff deficits led to some vulnerable children not being assigned social workers in a timely manner.
In May inspectors from the Health Information and Quality Authority found that systems in place to identify and manage the risk posed by convicted and alleged offenders in the Donegal area, including potential organised abuse, “were not robust or safe enough”.
Inspectors were told that there was no national guidance, policy, procedures or assessment framework in place to support social workers to assess and monitor the risk posed by sex offenders.
The service kept individual case files on alleged and convicted offenders and other adults who potentially posed a risk to children. Individuals on the list were allocated to a social worker to assess and monitor the level of risk they posed.
However, there was a waiting list – the assessment for one convicted offender was delayed for six months – and inspectors were told that there was minimal contact between social workers and probation services.
The report found the service was under-resourced. Inspectors found staffing deficits meant children and families with a higher level of need were prioritised for a service while others were placed on waiting lists.
However, although “every effort” was made to manage risk, inspectors found not all high risk cases were consistently allocated a social worker and those which were did not always receive an adequate service.
They found that, prior to the inspection, 15 children on the Child Protection Notification System who were “at risk of significant and ongoing harm” had no allocated social worker.
Case notes for four of these children revealed they had not been visited for up to five months prior to the unnannounced inspection which was carried out between May 13th and 22nd of this year.
All 15 children had been allocated a social worker by the end of the inspection process.
In its response to the inspection Tusla, the Child and Family agency said it had completed a review of all adults who posed a risk to children in the weeks after the inspection took place and that all cases had been allocated to social workers.
It said national policy and guidelines in relation to the investigation and management of referrals on adults who posed a risk would be implemented by the end of this month.
The agency said it would put in place a new intake team to tackle waiting lists which would also ensure a more robust system of prioritisation to ensure that the most vulnerable children were targeted in a timely manner.
In addition it said it would develop three child and family teams which would be responsible for the provision of longer-term child and family support services.
Tusla took over responsibilty for child and family services from the HSE on January 1st last.