The Government may need to consider a “complete overhaul” of the care system for the State’s most vulnerable children due to its current failings, Department of Children officials have privately warned.
The existing system of special care, where a small number of children at risk of serious harm are detained for their own safety by court order, may no longer be “fit for purpose”, according to internal department briefings.
Judges have routinely criticised serious failings where Tusla, the child and family agency, cannot place children into special care units as they do not have enough staff to keep them open.
Just 15 of the available 26 beds across the State’s three special care facilities are open due to social worker staffing shortages. This has left children deemed to be at serious risk of harm living in unregulated emergency accommodation while they wait for a place in one of the secure units.
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Department officials internally said there might be a need for “a complete overhaul of the provision of special care”, according to briefing notes seen by The Irish Times.
Officials said this would require a review of current facilities, the capacity of the system and how care was provided, as well as the legal and regulatory framework underpinning special care. This overhaul would be “akin to the reconfiguration of the youth justice service and the creation of the Oberstown complex”, the document stated.
“The department must now carefully consider, in conjunction with Tusla, the extent to which the current system continues to be fit for purpose,” it said.
The briefing notes were prepared for Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman in late March as he was preparing to meet the board of Tusla. At that time there were nine children deemed by a court to be in need of a place in a secure unit waiting for a space.
“There has been a noticeable reduction in the overall number of admissions since 2021 due to delays in discharge because of the lack of available and appropriate step-down placements,” the briefing document states.
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A separate Tusla briefing from March said the agency currently had “no capacity to open additional beds in the short term or to discharge existing young people” from special care. Six young people had been deemed ready to leave special care but had been unable to do so as Tusla was unable to find an appropriate “onward” placement for them.
The documents were released following a request under the Freedom of Information Act by Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín, who said the records showed the situation in the State care system had become “untenable”.
Statistics from Tusla show slightly more staff left posts in special care units than were hired in the last three years despite intensive recruitment efforts. While 168 staff had been hired since 2021, some 174 had left for various reasons.
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Special care is considered one of the most challenging working environments in the sector, given the young people being cared for are often highly traumatised. The level of staff absenteeism is high, in large part because of the number of violent attacks they face, according to the internal briefing notes.
A spokesman for Tusla said the agency had put a big focus on recruiting and retaining staff but had failed to find the additional numbers needed to open currently closed special care beds. Tusla has said it has repeatedly sought clearance to pay staff working in special care units an extra allowance, but this has been rejected by the Department of Public Expenditure. It is understood negotiations are ongoing over extra pay for staff in special care, while wider reforms are also being considered by Department of Children officials.
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