SHOCKING DISPARITIES IN CHILD SOCIAL CARE

Blackspots show 464 children left to fend for themselves

HUGE differences exist across the country when it comes to the provision of social care workers for children in care, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Figures released to Fianna Fáil TD Anne Rabbitte by Tusla, the State Child and Family Agency, show that a shocking 21% of children in care in Co. Donegal – that’s one in five – do not have a designated social worker.

In the last budget, Tusla received additional funding to the tune of over €6m so it could tackle the social worker waiting-list for troubled children.

However, despite promises by Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone to end waiting lists for troubled children, 464 – or 7% – of the children in the care of the State still have no allocated social worker.

The stark figures reveal that the problem is not limited to Donegal.

Of the children in State care in the Dublin South West/Kildare and West Wicklow region, 18% (almost a fifth) do not have a designated social worker.

Other blackspots when it comes to the allocation of social workers to children include the Midwest region – which incorporates the counties of Clare, Limerick and Tipperary North – where 16% of children in care languish without a social worker.

The figures also show that in the Wexford-Waterford region, which has been beset by several abuse scandals in recent times, 11% of children in care are on the waiting list for a social worker.

In Dublin North, the figure stands at 9% – or just under one in ten – of children in care without a designated social worker.

That relates to the north of the county, separate to that is the Dublin City North district which, with 8% of children waiting, is also above the national average.

Commenting on the admission that 464 children in need do not have a designated social worker, Ms Rabbitte, Fianna Fáil’s spokeswoman on Children and Youth Affairs said: ‘These figures are appalling, we should ensure no child is left behind – instead we have hundreds left unattended.’

The Tusla figures also reveal that there are huge regional and local disparities when it comes to the provision of social workers for the 6,405 children currently in care nationwide.

In Dublin South, East Wicklow, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan, all children in care have social workers.

In Louth and Meath, the waiting list is 1%.

Responding to the issue, Ms Zappone said: ‘Tusla’s policy is that all children coming into care, and those in high-risk placements, have an allocated social worker.’

The new minister offered an explanation for at least some regions coming up short. She said: ‘Gaps may be attributed to a number of factors, including maternity leave, vacancies and competing priorities.’

She noted that as part of its business plan, Tusla had committed to ensuring that all children in care had an allocated social worker by the end of this year.

However, Galway East TD Ms Rabbitte said: ‘It is difficult to marry these numbers with the special place we are supposed to reserve for children in the Constitution.

‘When it comes to protecting children, social workers are the equivalent of boots on the ground.’

One in five children in Donegal get no help Maternity leave and vacancies don’t help