Protecting our children

DESPITE THE MANY CHANGES DUE TO THE COVID-19 CRISIS TUSLA IS WORKING AWAY AT KEEPING OUR MOST VULNERABLE CHILDREN SAFE. CIARA GALVIN REPORTS

WITH schools closed and summer camps cancelled all children are feeling the effects of lockdown, but for the country’s most vulnerable children lockdown has meant being locked into an unsafe environment. Who is helping Ireland’s most vulnerable children? Tusla, the Child and Family State Agency responsible for providing care and protection for children has continued its work in providing this support despite the current pandemic.

Though referral figures have platued and even reduced at some points during lockdown, in the Sligo, Leitrim, West Cavan region, Area Manager Liam Whyte tells The Sligo Champion there is not yet cause for concern.

With some referrals coming from schools in relation to children needing Tusla intervention, and schools having been closed since March 12 th, Mr Whyte was asked if this has resulted in numbers of referrals falling.

“Numbers havent went up and haven’t dropped significantly.

“What would be a concern is because schools aren’t open, we get referrals from schools.

“There would be issues of domestic violence because of lockdown, people can’t refer to the same extent.”

Though highlighting that as a concern, Mr

Whyte says his area is still receiving a ‘significant’ number of referrals from gardaí, public health nurses, GPs, and are still responding to these.

Even in the context of Covid-19, Whyte says home visits, where necessary, are still continuing and families are contacted before a visit to prepare with social distancing being adhered to.

“The Tusla team is still here, working away keeping children safe as possible in the county. We’ve been open through the pandemic, just operating slightly differently.”

Mr Whyte explained that all referrals or concerns are being screened and assessed via normal practices and a child who is deemed to be at risk receives immediate response.

When Tusla receive a referral from a concerned party, that referral is screened within five days. A duty team screens it for risk, urgency and prioritisation.

“If necessary if there’s immediate concern, we’ ll undertake an immediate home visit, visit the family, and then there’s an assessment carried out”

Mr Whyte says in an extreme case of intervention, Tusla may hvae to revert to court action, however, this would not be the agency’s first recourse where possible.

“We’d weigh up and try to figure out with families how to work things out going forward but in extreme cases we may need to apply to the court,” he says.

As the courts remain open during lockdown, Tusla can still make applications where needed, but the area manager says thankfully not a huge number have been made.

Tusla’s main function is to protect children, and within that they are also engaged in helping with domestic violence, education, welfare and gender based violence among others.

Tusla provides funding under its umbrella for fmaily rescourse centres, education and welfare adn funding to domestic violence organisations such as DVAS here in Sligo.

In fact in Sligo, Tulsa provides funding for 18 voluntary organisations.

Such organisations include family resource centres in Sligo Town, Tubbercurry and Collooney.

“They’re all open, just operating differently,” says Whyte.

Even Foroige comes under Tusla’s umbrella, and Mr Whyte says the organisation is also making sure to keep connected to its young people.

Speaking about the incredibly beneficial resources available to families for free, Mr Whyte mentions Life Start, an early years service catering for parents with children ageed 0-3.

Life Start offers home visits, parenting programmes, advice, support and advocacy, along with practical advice for children’s development.

Often a referral for this resource is made by a social worker or a psychologist.

While many services are run on a referral basis, Mr Whyte explains that there are also resources available to parents seeking out help that may not be involved with Tusla.

“A very informative Facebook page, a parenting hub was set up by the local county childcare committee offering family support,” Mr Whyte points out.

Sligo Leitrim parenting Facebook page provides webinars, advice on children who are hard to engage with during the pandemic, advice on teenagers and tips on safety on the internet.

Referring to the great work done by many communities during the ongoing pandemic, Mr Whyte referred to the community forums set up to aid the vulnerable and said over the last four weeks, 400 food parcels had been delvered to families by family resource centres in the Sligo/ Leitrim area.

“There are very significant supports for families, including, education and arts packs and gardening packs for families, with 250 of those delivered.”

In terms of helping teenagers and children to cope, Mr Whyte says services such as the Home Youth Liasion service provide family support service for young people.

Before schools closed workers would visit secondary schools, now, they still keep in contact with teenagers they had been engaging with.

A parent and grandparent himself, Mr Whyte

knows all too well the difficulties children and teenagers can face, but now, in the middle of a pandemic he says resources such as the Home Youth Liaison service is more important than ever.

“Covid 19 meant that schools closed early, they miss their friends, they can’t interact with relatives or family, and some are lucky to have a back garden.”

He adds, “Sometimes that can play out and there can be tensions, parents need to comunicate with kids, engage with kids, keep communication open, that it’s [lockdown] not forever.”

For Whyte and all working in Tusla, communication is integral, and workers continue to stay in touch with families they have previously engaged with and even children who are currently in care.

To show the level of communication within the State body, Mr Whyte tells The Sligo Champion that during a recent six day period, there were 509 phone contacts made, 61 Zoom conferences, 106 WhatsApp messages and 101 face-to-face interactions while maintaining social distancin.

Those numbers reflect communication between Tusla staff and service users across various services

What to do if you are concerned about a child?

Mr Whyte simply says to contact the local Tusla number if a member of the public has a concern about a child.

“There’s nothing wrong with phoning a duty worker.

“They can clarify whether or not a concern is underreacting or overreacting.

Tusla have offices in Sligo town, Tubbercurry and Carrick-on-Shannon.

“We’re talking about concern around emotional abuse, physical abuse, neglect or at worse, sexual abuse, they can have informal conversation, and a duty worker can assess it.”

Asked if a referral can be anonymous where a member of the public is concerned about a child, Mr Whyte says although it can be, it makes it difficult following through on assessing the matter.

“If there’s a named child we need to know where it’s (referral) is coming from.

“If it’s a school, or teacher or garda, or GP, we would like to be in position to tell the family who it came from.

“I it is anonymous there is not much we can do about that, we need to be able to stand over it.

“We’re governed by GDPR, privacy, so anyone who makes referral in good faith we’ ll try to adhere to that,” he says.

THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH PHONING A DUTY WORKER. THEY CAN CLARIFY WHETHER OR NOT A CONCERN IS UNDERREACTING OR OVERREACTING... THEY CANHAVE AN INFORMAL CONVERSATION AND A DUTY WORKER CAN ASSESS IT

- TUSLAAREA MANAGER, LIAM WHYTE