Sherlock calls for return of Oireachtas oversight after HIQA report
Calls come as report reveals ‘failings’ in Tusla’s Cork operations
CORK East TD Seán Sherlock has called for the oversight committee structure of Leinster House to be restored as a matter of urgency following a report by HIQA into Tusla’s system of notifying child protection concerns in the Cork area.
The watchdog inspection carried out between January 14 and 16 focused on children on the Child and Family Agency Tusla’s Child Protection Notification System (CPNS), in the Cork area, the ‘ highest child-populated’ region of Tusla’s 17 areas.
HIQA inspectors found ‘unacceptable delays’, ‘very poor quality planning’ and ‘poor’ risk management resulted in ‘very poor’ child protection services to some of the most vulnerable children in the county, according to the report published on Tuesday.
105 children were on the CPNS system at the time the inspection was carried out. The CPNS records the names of children identified as at risk of continuing significant harm and for whom there is an ongoing child-protection concern. Children listed have child-protection plans agreed at a child-protection conference (CPC), with access to the list granted to a small group of people responsible for potential decisions about the safety of the children listed.
HIQA found ‘unacceptable’ delays of up to 12 weeks in child protection conferences being held from the time social-work teams flagged ‘significant protection concerns’ for children.
Following conferences held in the past year, some children experienced a lack of urgency in the implementation of their child-protection safety plans while others had ‘ timely and regular visits’. Meanwhile, one child identified as at significant risk received no visit after an initial conference, with no safety planning meeting held and no actions progressed on the case.
Tusla failed to allocate a social worker to another child for a period of time, in a case that also received no safety-planning meetings with no actions progressed, HIQA found.
It led the watchdog to conclude that the case would remain in the conference system for longer than necessary notwithstanding the risk to the child the lack of service provided.
“The lack of regular safety planning meetings was a feature of 17 out of 18 cases reviewed and was not in line with the Tusla national guidelines for CPCs and the CPNS,” the report stated.
Inspectors ultimately found that the governance arrangements for the management of children on the CPNS required ‘significant improvement’.
Labour Party TD Seán Sherlock is now calling for the resumption of the Oireachtas committee oversight, describing the revelations of the report as ‘upsetting’ for families: “The Committee oversight structures in Leinster House have not yet materialised and are not due to be re-established until after Christmas according to some reports.
“This leaves a serious gap in democratic accountability of State agencies like Tusla when reports like this are released. There are serious questions that need to be answered about child protection in Cork. There must be some mechanism designed to quickly allow the resumption of committee hearings in different areas either remotely or through social distancing.
“The revelations from today’s HIQA report will be upsetting to many families. Tusla must account for itself not just through the statutory reports but publicly in order to restore confidence in its operations.
“Covid-19 has changed the world but these issues occurred well before the pandemic and lockdown, the conduct of Tusla during which has raised its own questions and concerns. Transparency and confidence must be restored.”
Responding to the HIQA report, Acting Area Manager for Tusla Cork Kieran Campbell said: “From the outset we want to reassure the public that where a child is at immediate risk, they receive an immediate and protective response which was reflected throughout the report. It is also important to note that all cases were being actively worked and monitored by Tusla child protection staff, and that children on the CPNS have already been through an assessment, a case conference and significant social work intervention.”