Inspection report of Tusla services reveals concerning cases

An inspection report of Tusla’s services in Dublin South/West Kildare/West Wicklow area revealed that in several cases appropriate action was not taken to ensure children were safeguarded from identified risks.

Other findings, in the recently released report by the Health Information and Quality Authority, revealed that a delay in responding to a case led to a homeless child waiting two months to be seen by a social worker.

Young people leaving foster care were also left at serious risk of homelessness in other cases.

HIQA conducted the risk-based inspection of child protection, welfare and fostering services in the region, which consists of four county boundaries: Kildare, Wicklow, South Dublin and Dublin South City, between September 27 and 30, 2021.

This inspection focused on reviewing the non-compliances identified during the previous inspection of the service area in December 2020.

The service was found to be substantially compliant under the one standard that was inspected against the National Standards for Foster Care.

Seven standards under the National Standards for the Protection and Welfare of Children were inspected; one was substantially compliant, five were found to be non-compliant moderate and one was non-compliant major.

Significant improvements were found in relation to the governance of the fostering and aftercare service.

While some improvements were evident within the child protection and welfare service, further improvements were required.

According to the report, the service had successfully reduced the number of cases waiting for a child protection and welfare service and had eliminated high-priority cases from their waiting list.

However, children at lower levels of risk continued to experience delays in receiving a service and inspectors sought assurances in relation to the safeguarding arrangements in place for some children.

“In the majority of cases reviewed, where immediate action was required to address concerns and assess risks to children who were deemed at risk, social workers responded quickly and appropriate action was taken,” the report reads.

“However, in nine cases appropriate action was not taken in a timely way at the point of screening or preliminary enquiry to ensure children were safeguarded from identified risks.”

HIQA said that “appropriate assurances were provided by the area manager.”

The timeliness and oversight of assessments of relative foster carers had improved.

There was also improved oversight of An Garda Síochána vetting of foster carers and those living in foster care households, but further improvements were still required.

The service had also made good progress in improving the aftercare service.

The quality of aftercare assessments was good and there were plans in progress for further improvements of this service.

In a statement, HIQA said that further work was required “in the governance of waiting lists, risk management and quality assurance in order to achieve compliance with the national standards.”

At the time of the inspection, the service had a plan to address the backlog of referrals waiting for a service.

The area has submitted a compliance plan to address the issues identified by this inspection.

Dublin South/West Kildare/West Wicklow, which is one of the 17 areas within Tusla’s Child and Family Agency, is the second largest Tusla area, and has the 3rd highest level of deprivation