Courts note increase in new childcare cases since 2019 — up more than 45%

The number of new cases seeking the court’s intervention in the care of a child has increased by 46 per cent since 2019, new figures show.

Last year judges made care-related orders in respect of 14,985 incoming cases, a rise of 4,694 from four years prior and 791 since 2021.

New data from the Courts Service record consecutive annual rises since 2019 (the oldest available comparable year) in the number of new childcare cases.

The vast majority of the requests came before the District Court, but 71 were brought to the High Court.

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Last year, the courts granted 201 emergency care orders sought by Tusla — the Child and Family Agency — for the removal of a child still at home or who was removed by gardaí. That was down from 233 the year before.

The Courts Service said that in exceptional cases, these orders, which result in a child being brought into State care, can be sought by Tusla without notifying the minor’s parents, for instance, if the child was found in a very vulnerable position unaccompanied with no adult carer. Generally when gardaí remove a child, however, Tusla will notify the parent who can then be present and represented in court when the emergency-care application is heard.

[ ‘For us as a nation, these are all our children’: Court-appointed guardians fight for services for youth in care ]

Order extensions

Tusla’s requests for these emergency orders were refused 54 times last year and on 34 occasions in 2021.

General care orders rose, by 33, to reach 556 last year, and were extended on 630 occasions. Care order extensions were granted 731 times in 2021.

Interim care orders, which are valid for 29 days, and extensions of interim care orders, reduced year on year, from 747 and 5,704 respectively in 2021 to 630 and 5,041 in 2022.

Judges make these temporary orders when a child needs care prior to a full care or supervision order request being heard.

There were 304 supervision orders granted in 2022, an increase from 267 in 2021. Tusla can apply for the orders, which involve regular social worker visits, as a less drastic alternative to bringing a child into its care.

Judges may decide to make such an order instead of acceding to a care order request after concluding the supervision order will address the child’s needs.