Child abuse cases taking up to a year to investigate

SOME reports of child abuse are taking up to a year to be investigated, social workers warned yesterday.

Statistics produced by the Central Statistics Office show an 87% increase in incidents reported last year where a child has been abandoned, neglected or cruelly treated.

There were 195 incidents of child abuse reported in 2004; 268 in 2005; 303 in 2006; and 566 in 2007.

Irish Association of Social Workers spokesman Declan Coogan said some of the allegations were taking up to a year to be investigated.

“The situation could suggest some children are at greater risk than they need to be,” said Mr Coogan.

He said the situation highlighted the need for fully resourced community childcare protection social work teams.

He said last year’s recruitment embargo and current employment controls made it difficult to fully resource social work teams.

“The situation leads to delays in the assessment of these allegations,” he said.

Co-ordinator of the centre for social and family research at the Waterford Institute of Technology Fergus Hogan said the statistics showed children were among the greatest sufferers in an increasingly violent society.

“Hidden among the headline statistics of increases in murders and drugs are the small intimacies of daily life and how a most significant change in Irish crime is the crime we do to children,” he said.

ISPCC spokeswoman Mary Nicholson said the statistics reflected a rise in reporting, rather than a jump in actual incidents.

“There’s probably a better environment now in terms of people reporting abuse. But, regardless of that, could preventative measures be put in place so that things do not get that far?

“Social workers do a fantastic job in this area but they are working with limited resources,” said Ms Nicholson. She called for more support services and greater public awareness of child abuse.

She also warned the 566 reports of child abuse made last year did not reflect the actual level of child abuse happening nationwide.

“Just looking at the number of calls Childline gets suggests the figure in relation to child abuse is higher but it would be difficult to ascertain,” she said.

Barnardos’ director of advocacy Nora Gibbons said she was concerned at the lack of social workers to follow up on abused children taken into care.

“There does not appear to be enough social workers in the Health Service Executive system to respond to these kinds of cases,” she said.

Ms Gibbons said families also needed to be helped before a situation reached a crisis point where a crime needed to be reported to gardaí.