Almost 1,000 ‘high priority’ children without a social worker

Almost 1,000 children deemed to be at high risk were waiting to be allocated a social worker at the end of last year.

The annual report from Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, said a total of 6,718 children were waiting for social workers.

The agency stressed, however, these figures were improvements on the situation in 2014.

“High priority cases awaiting allocation reduced from 2,836 in December 2014 to 999 in December 2015 – a 65 per cent reduction,” it said.

“Cases awaiting allocation to a social worker reduced from 8,542 in December 2014 to 6,718 in December 2015 – a 21 per cent reduction.”

The agency’s child protection services received 43,596 referrals, of which 42 related to abuse or neglect and 58 per cent to child welfare.

Chief executive Fred McBride said 2015 had been a “crucial year” as the agency worked to develop in particular its early interventions where children were at risk or families in crisis.

“At a difficult time and with limited resources, Tusla made a strong start to introducing reforms, transforming services and ultimately improving outcomes for children,” he said.

Despite the progress, however, he said the numbers of vulnerable children without allocated social workers, remained too high and the target was to bring them to zero.