The country’s social workers will today call for the urgent reform of the Mental Health Act, claiming that the current laws are not fit for purpose.

Mandatory reporting of child-abuse concerns began yesterday, with children’s rights groups saying it would work, while others, including social workers, expressed misgivings.

Social workers have warned the child protection system is “in no way ready” for the introduction in six weeks time of mandatory reporting of child abuse concerns.

Social workers have warned the child protection system is “in no way ready” for the introduction in six weeks time of mandatory reporting of child abuse concerns.

The Irish Association of Social Workers has called on the Government to establish and fund a statutory social work service for vulnerable adults, amid warnings that many people are allowed to drift into the margins of society with no single agency responsible for their welfare.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has defended its record on the retention of social workers following claims that its failure to hold on to experienced staff puts more children at risk of becoming the next ‘Grace’.

The head of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, said he is “sympathetic” to points of concern raised by social workers in relation to proposed procedures for dealing with allegations of child abuse and neglect.

Children’s rights groups have reacted with concern to the news that a completed review of previously unattended-to child welfare files has found that at least 127 children in Laois/Offaly require immediate intervention.

An advocacy group for children in care has hit out at social workers for “failing” children following the Irish Examiner’s publication of HSE inspection reports of private children’s homes.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter reiterated that everyone, including priests, were obliged to report child sex abuse and other offences, including white collar crime, to the gardaí, even if they hear about it in the confessional.

Social workers in north Dublin say the welfare of their clients could be at risk if a plan to relocate them to a new office is implemented.

SOCIAL workers are to meet the Minister for Children later this month to address how new laws on the reporting of alleged child abuse will be covered in the face of increased workload.

SOCIAL workers will today launch a 10-point discussion document they believe should form the basis of an overhaul of child protection services.

SOCIAL workers are on a collision course with the HSE over a new standardisation process for dealing with child protection cases, including sexual abuse cases.

THE state is paying private residential childcare companies in the region of €14,000 a week to look after individual children, while beds remain empty in homes run by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

THE two eldest children in the Roscommon abuse case are to launch a legal action against the HSE for vicarious liability, the Irish Examiner understands.

AT-RISK children in Dublin cannot access emergency care beds through HSE social workers by day – and instead are being forced to routinely wait until 5pm when gardaí can intervene.

THERE are less full-time social workers employed by the HSE now than there were during 2009 – despite a pledge by the Government to employ 270 additional staff to bolster child protection in the wake of the Ryan Report.

THE State is spending almost €90 million a year to keep about 400 children in residential care, at an average cost of €4,294 per child per week.

The Irish Association of Social Workers claims the Government needs to spell out in greater detail how the measures being put in place to provide an out-of-hours service for crisis cases will operate.

SOCIAL workers have raised serious concerns over commitments given by the Government to bolster services following the publication of the Ryan report.

THE Government yesterday unveiled its long-awaited response to the recommendations of the Ryan report, with the roll-out of the plan likely to cost €25 million.

MORE than a sixth of children in care do not have an allocated social worker.

IRISH society continues to systematically fail children at risk of abuse and neglect, the head of Barnardos, Fergus Finlay, has said.

SOCIAL workers have taken a stand against therapies which claim to “cure” homosexuality on the grounds that they add to the mental distress of gay and lesbian people.

FOLLOWING Declan Cashin’s article on growing up gay in Ireland (June 24), the Questions & Answers programme on RTÉ last Monday night and pride festivals in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast, the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) repeats its call for full marriage equality for gay and lesbian relationships.

SIBLING sexual abuse is more common than sexual abuse by a parent, according to the director of a treatment programme for young abusers.

THE disquieting news that nearly 1,000 children felt so lonely on Christmas Day that they felt moved enough to contact support services offered by Childline puts our celebrations and tinsel in a context we might never have imagined or wished.

THE need for an out-of-hours child protection service was highlighted in the south east 10 years ago in a child care report.

SOCIAL workers are calling for realistic resources to deliver proper mental health services to children and teenagers.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has initiated a “comprehensive review” of its service provision in the case of bed-ridden Evelyn Joel who died in Wexford on Saturday last.

ONLY a handful of social workers are charged with looking after the tens of thousands of elderly people still living at home across the country, according to the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW).

FAMILIES of older people are being forced to spend money on private nursing homes because of the Department of Health’s push to calm the A&E crisis, experts claimed yesterday.

IN recent weeks a number of comments have been made in the Irish media in relation to the nature of the social work profession and its lack of accountability.