Almost two-thirds of children in care in parts of southeast not allocated social worker

Almost two-thirds of children in care in parts of the southeast of the State have no allocated social worker, according to the most recent figures from Tusla, the child and family agency.

In some of the poorest parts of Dublin more than a third of children in care are awaiting allocation of a social worker, while across south Dublin city and county more than 20 per cent of children in care have no social worker.

The data sets, provided by Tusla to People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, also show almost one in five social worker posts in parts of Dublin are unfilled. Tusla said the housing crisis, especially rental costs in the capital, were making it “particularly difficult in some areas” to fill vacant social work positions.

The figures, which are more up to date than those contained in the agency’s just-published 2022 annual report, show that at the end of January there were 5,597 children in care, of whom 873 or 15.5 per cent were awaiting allocation of a social worker. At the end of April, there were 1,795 social worker posts, of which 208 or 11 per cent were unfilled.

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The largest shortfalls are in the east and southeast of the country.

In the southeast, which takes in counties Carlow, Kilkenny, south Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford, 712 children were in care at the end of January. Of these, 47.6 per cent were “awaiting allocation” of a social worker, according to Tusla.

In Carlow/Kilkenny/south Tipperary, the shortfall was more acute. Of the 300 children in care, almost two-thirds had no social worker, while 35 per cent were without one in Waterford/Wexford.

In the Dublin/mid-Leinster region, which includes south Dublin city and county and parts of Kildare and Wicklow, 1,292 children were in care, of whom 21.5 per cent were “awaiting allocation” of a social worker.

Within this region however, the children at greatest risk of not being allocated a social worker were in southwest Dublin/Kildare/west Wicklow, which takes in areas of high deprivations such as Jobstown, parts of Clondalkin and Ballinascorney in Dublin. Here, of the 409 children in care, 32.5 per cent had no social worker.

The areas with lowest rates of children without social workers were the West/North West (6.3 per cent); South West (7.1 per cent) and Dublin North East (7.7 per cent).

The area with the highest vacancy rate for social workers was Dublin North East, which includes north Dublin city and county as well as parts of counties Louth, Meath, Cavan and Monaghan. Of its 392 social worker posts, 18 per cent are described as “posts in progress”.

The vacancy rate in the Dublin mid-Leinster region was the next highest, at 13 per cent, followed by the southeast and the midwest. The lowest is in the southwest, at 3 per cent.

The figures come in the aftermath of an intervention by former Dublin District Court judge Dermot Simms who, in a letter to Government Ministers published on Monday, said an “unprecedented crisis” in the care system was leading to a “likelihood” of claims against the State.

Kate Duggan, interim chief executive of Tusla, said the agency was facing “unprecedented challenges” including “an increasing referral rate (almost 83,000 last year); an inadequate supply of emergency and alternative care placements (foster care and residential care); an increase in the number of separated children seeking international protection; and workforce supply issues, particularly in social work and social care.”

In a letter to Mr Murphy, the agency said children waiting for a social worker were met by “dedicated duty teams” who “undertake actions to progress the protection and welfare concerns of those cases”.

To recruit and retain more social workers the agency had, over the past two years, undertaken “extensive” recruitment campaigns abroad, engaged with higher education bodies to “improve graduate supply”, and increased administration capacity to allow social workers “to focus more of their time on work with children and families,” it said.