Registers of children at risk of abuse are to be set up by the health boards in line with the new guidelines published yesterday on dealing with child abuse. The case of each child recorded on the Child Protection Notification System must be reviewed every six months until he or she is no longer at risk.
The detailed guidelines, which run to 165 pages, were welcomed by childcare organisations, with some reservations.
They were drawn up by a working party chaired by Ms Maureen Lynott of BUPA Ireland and were published yesterday by the Minister of State for Children, Mr Frank Fahey. They are designed to make absolutely clear what should be done when it is suspected that a child has been abused or is at risk of abuse.
The most important provision in the guidelines, Mr Fahey said, was that "any person who suspects that a child is being abused, or is at risk of abuse, should make a report to the health board or the Garda without delay.
"This simple message is based on the view that everyone has a duty to protect children and it is not just the job of social workers and other health professionals."
Although the guidelines are not binding in a legal sense on professionals or voluntary bodies, they leave no room for doubt as to what they should do, and exactly how they should proceed, when faced with concerns about child abuse.
Mr Fahey said yesterday that he favours making the guidelines legally binding, as was recommended by the working party, but that this will have to be considered when the White Paper on mandatory reporting is published.
He defended a decision by his Department to remove from the published guidelines a recommendation that regional child protection committees should be able to investigate how the health boards handle particular cases.
He said the health boards' legal advisers and the Attorney General's office had found there would be problems with such a procedure.
This was rejected by the Children's Rights Alliance, which said it had consulted legal experts, who could find no obstacle to giving these powers to the committees. It was also rejected by the CARI Foundation, which works with children who have been sexually abused. Mr Fahey said an extra inspector would be employed by the Social Services Inspectorate to ensure the health boards implemented the guidelines.
The preparation of legislation to establish an office of Ombudsman for Children was at an advanced stage, he added.
The guidelines were welcomed by Barnardos, the ISPCC and the trade union IMPACT. The latter warned, however, that without extra resources for health boards the guidelines would only lead to longer waiting lists for services for children.
The Department of Health and Children is to publish the full text of the guidelines on its Website (www.doh.ie).
