Not for the first time, horrific details of a particular case point to failures within our child protection system. It has emerged that the children of a mother found guilty at Galway Circuit Criminal Court of 29 charges of child cruelty and neglect remained in her care for five years after first coming to the attention of social services.
And in a separate case, questions have been raised by a RTÉ investigation into allegations of abuse against a member of a foster family in the west of Ireland.
There have been almost 30 inquiries into the State’s handling of child abuse cases over the past two decades. Most have identified the same issues: a pattern of lapses in communication between State agencies; the lack of a standardised approach to dealing with abuse concerns; and a lack of emphasis on preventive measures.
There were hopes the establishment of Tusla, the State’s child and family agency, would tackle these issues as well as a generalised lack of early intervention and a pattern of delayed responses to concerns about an individual child’s welfare. However, the promise of a more cohesive service backed by greater resources has not materialised.
The separation of health and social services has not helped. Mental health and public health professionals are integral to the prevention and management of child abuse. Yet there is no effective structure through which these vital supports can readily mesh with child social services.
As is the case with the Health Service Executive, there is a marked increase in the use of locum professionals to plug gaps in Tusla's services. An over reliance on agency social workers makes teamwork almost impossible; high staff turnover also poses significant challenges in building trust between clients and social care professionals.
Some positive reform has occurred under Tusla. But the State must institute a twin track approach to resourcing the organisation: funding emergency response teams for children at serious risk of abuse and neglect; and a separate funding stream aimed at fundamentally changing how the child protection sector operates.