Some vulnerable children are spending up to three years in unregulated, so-called “emergency arrangements” due to a lack of suitable placements for children in crisis.
As of January 4th, more than 150 children in Tusla’s care were in special emergency arrangements (SEAs), which are not inspected by the Health Information and Quality Authority.
Such arrangements mean children are accommodated in facilities provided by private operators, including rented apartments or houses, B&Bs or hotels.
Concerns have been raised about staffing ratios, staff qualifications, whether children have their own bedrooms in SEAs and about these placements’ suitability for children in crisis.
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Earlier this month The Irish Times reported Tusla paid more than €36 million to private operators to accommodate vulnerable children in special emergency arrangements in the first seven months of last year.
Last October, Dublin District Court judge Conor Fottrell said the use of “unregulated, unregistered placements” for children in care “should come to an end”.
Figures provided by the agency show that as of the first weekend of January, there were 44 children in SEAs who had come into care through mainstream services – from households in Ireland, and 109 who were child asylum seekers, known as separated children seeking international protection (SCSIPs).
Of those who had come through mainstream services, 39 were in special emergency arrangements in privately leased properties and four were in Tusla-owned properties.
One child who had come into care through the emergency out-of-hours service was placed in a hotel. In such cases, the child “is then moved to the regional team on the next working day and they arrange a suitable placement”, said Tusla.
Of the 44 children in special emergency arrangements, one had been in an SEA for more than a year, while another had been in one for between two and three years.
The majority (34) had been in a special emergency arrangement for between one and six months; six had been there for between seven months and a year and two for less than one month.
Asked how many children in special emergency arrangements had been moved from placement to placement, Tusla said it did not keep records on this for the mainstream cohort. Among the 109 SCSIPs, 68 had been moved from their placement to another at least once, while 41 had remained in the same placement.
All SCSIPs were in privately leased properties. Among these, 48 had been in a special emergency arrangement for less than a month and 61 had been in one for between one and six months.
A total of 41 had had one placement and 68 moved placements at least once.
A Tusla spokesman said: “Efforts are made to move young people from SEAs to regulated settings as soon as possible, once alternative placements become available.
“The agency continues to exhaust all avenues to increase the capacity of residential care and has been actively investing in efforts to expand residential care capacity to meet growing needs and further reduce our reliance on SEAs.”
In regulated child-in-care accommodation, children should have their own bedroom, except in cases where siblings are in care together.
Among the SCSIP cohort, 37 had their own bedrooms and “72 unaccompanied minors [share] bedrooms in a double occupancy”.
Asked if children in special emergency arrangements had been allocated social workers or social care workers, Tusla said all of those in the mainstream cohort had “an allocated worker, a care plan in place, and a staffing ratio of at least 2:1 when in single occupancy arrangements.
“Tusla is providing additional funds to Epic [empowering people in care] to provide additional advocacy services for young people in SEAs.
All from the SCSIP cohort in special emergency arrangements had an allocated worker and a placement plan or care plan.
