Both the HSE and Tusla are still falling short when it comes to ensuring adequate services and supports for children with disabilities in the care of the State — a year after a critical report highlighted inadequacies in one particular case.

Children forced from their home by domestic violence were homeless for two years, during which they slept on blood-stained mattresses and found themselves in accommodation where they were exposed to their mother’s ex-partner or his friends, an investigation by the Ombudsman for Children’s Office has found.

An investigation by the Children’s Ombudsman led to the revelation that 20 referrals involving hip procedures for children were lost when they were faxed from one hospital to another.

The Office of the Ombudsman has received five complaints from people living in direct provision, in the first two weeks since asylum seekers were allowed to contact the office with concerns.

A 10-year-old boy with severe disabilities was left without education provision for almost a year while a child protection investigation was ongoing in relation to alleged abuse in his school was carried out, according to a new report

The number of court applications regarding children in care significantly rose last year, even though the number of children in the care system remained relatively static.

Record number of complaints show complexities of children’s lives.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, says it supports a move to having private children’s residential care centres being independently inspected as suggested in a report highlighting major shortfalls in the process.

The newly appointed Ombudsman for Children has said An Garda Síochána should consider appointing a commissioner with special responsibility for children’s issues in policing.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has no record of how many pupils with disabilities take up options to extend or delay their use of Government-funded pre-schooling.

Supports for children with disabilities in the free pre-school year vary widely because of a lack of clear Government policy, according to Children’s Ombudsman Emily Logan.

The Ombudsman for Children has said the Child and Family Agency will have to tackle “systematic problems” in providing services for children — including those in care.

The Department of Education has been criticised by Children’s Ombudsman Emily Logan over enrolment appeals and home tuition after a teenager missed nearly two years of full-time education when up to 30 schools refused him a place.

The head of the HSE’s Children and Family Services has indicated that some information heard in court resulting in a Roma girl being taken into care on Monday may be made available to an investigation by the Children’s Ombudsman.

The HSE drew back from a commitment to fund accommodation and travel costs for the family of a young boy requiring limb-lengthening surgery in the US and denied him shoe lifts, a report has found.

The HSE took 10 months to repair a boy’s walking frame while some children in care could not be reunited with their families because local authorities failed to provide suitable housing.

Children and their parents can bring complaints about an additional 180 bodies to children’s ombudsman Emily Logan from the end of this month.

CHILDREN’S Ombudsman Emily Logan wants the law changed to allow her office investigate complaints from parents about the body which allocates school supports for children with severe disabilities or learning difficulties.

THE Children’s Ombudsman is to speak with homeless children to see if the HSE is safeguarding their welfare.

MORE than 1,200 complaints were made to the Office of the Ombudsman for Children last year, including some from children in the care system.

THE Ombudsman for Children yesterday asked for the Irish Prison Service to “work with her” as a report into conditions at the country’s biggest facility for young offenders unearthed a series of complaints about life there.

A 16-YEAR-OLD who had been availing of HSE out-of-hours/crisis intervention services contacted the ombudsman.

THE parents of a boy, aged 4, submitted a com- plaint to the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO), raising concerns that their child, who was diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder and a moderate intellectual disorder, had been refused at short notice a Home Tuition Grant (HTG) for the coming school year, as the Department of Education& had stated that a placement was available for him in a mainstream primary school.

THE Government needs to enact laws to bring teachers accused of behaving inappropriately towards children before a new teaching council, the Children’s Ombudsman has claimed as the children’s body saw a rise in complaints made to it.

IRELAND is in the top half of the world’s top 30 economies when it comes to attracting investment.

A senior academic today unveiled a six-point plan to better promote the rights of the child in society.

DEFINITIVE proposals on the date and content of the referendum on children’s rights will go before Cabinet shortly, the Minister for Children said yesterday.

THE construction industry in Ireland is set to increase by 20% to €39.5 billion over the next year.