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.

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.

The Ombudsman for Children is calling for urgent improvements in accommodation for children and young people in the care of the State.

Child protection cases in the district court often end up as a battle between the HSE and the family, according to new research.

Parents dissatisfied with how teachers are treating their children face a brick wall as legislation granting them a grievance process still has not been enacted 15 years after it was first draw up.

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 Government-appointed Special Rapporteur on Child Protection has confirmed he did not know about a confidential report outlining serious failures in child and family services.

AFTER 14 years of having ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), it might be expected that the Government would have implemented key areas of it.