Vulnerable children risk harm due to lack of staff, says Hiqa

Many vulnerable children at risk of harm in the Cork area did not have access to social workers or vital supports, an investigation into social services has found.

A report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) says inspectors found there was not enough staff to cope with the demand for services.

The findings are based on a full inspection of services in the county conducted by the authority last October.

The Child and Family Agency – also known as Tusla – has statutory responsibility to promote the welfare of children and protect those deemed to be at risk of harm.

Hiqa found staff at the child-protection service were skilled and they valued the safety of children.

There was also evidence that children were safer once they were allocated a social worker and received a social work service.

But the service was compromised because of the time it took for a social worker to be allocated to assess the needs of children and families. This meant children could remain at risk while waiting to be assessed.

In the year before the inspection, almost 5,000 referrals were received by the service.

Over 1,000 of these cases had not been allocated a social worker. Of these, more than 230 were deemed to be high-risk cases.

Some offices were in poor condition and deemed not to be a suitable place for children and families to meet their social worker in.

Some offices in the area did not have electronic information systems which meant that data was processed manually, making the system unsafe.

In addition, a comprehensive needs analysis for the service had not been done and it was not possible for managers to deploy what resources they had in the most effective way.

Hiqa expressed concern that the service had not established risks to all children in contact with adults against whom retrospective allegations of abuse had been made.

Due to the seriousness of this issue, along with the number of cases with no social workers for children at risk, the authority requested an immediate action plan.

In response to the report, the Child and Family Agency said all children with the greatest need were effectively identified by the service. But it accepted there were areas which required improvement.

Brian Lee, the agency’s director of quality assurance, said all high-risk cases have since been allocated a social worker.

In addition, a principal social worker has been assigned to address and oversee the management and review of retrospective disclosures .

The recruitment of 193 social workers was underway and the time taken to process them was being addressed. “We remain committed to constantly improving our services to ensure the best outcomes for the children in our care,” Mr Lee said.