8,194 reports of possible child abuse and neglect ignored

THE Health Service Executive received almost 24,000 reports of child abuse and neglect in 2007 but only followed up 15,074 of them, a new childcare report has revealed.

The Review of Adequacy of Services for Children and Families 2007 reflects once again how workloads on social workers are causing cases to fall through the cracks.

The report shows that in 2007, no initial assessment was undertaken in relation to 8,194 reports of possible child abuse or neglect.

Dr Siobhan Barry, clinical director of the Irish College of Psychiatrists, said she was concerned that the report was taken up with factual information rather than dealing with the issues.

“There is nothing in this report which says what they are going to do to make services more adequate.”

Norah Gibbons, director of advocacy with Barnardos, said it was concerning that a large number of children in care did not have a care plan.

According to the HSE report, published this week, only 64% of children in residential care had a care plan, while only 65% of those in foster homes had a care plan. “It should be 100%,” said Ms Gibbons.

“A care plan is a very basic requirement for a child in care and a statutory requirement under the 1991 Child Care Act. We would suspect it has to do with the lack of staff, but every child in care should have a plan.”

Ms Gibbons said it was “not a very helpful report” and left more questions than answers.

“This is supposed to be a report for the public to help them understand the complexity of the system. This seems to be mainly data for an internal audience.”

The report is far less detailed than those from previous years, and fails to detail the average time spent by a child on a waiting list or the number of children on waiting lists.

Fine Gael’s spokesman on children Alan Shatter said the HSE needed to explain why it appears as if 8,194 reports made to it concerning children at risk were ignored.

According to the HSE, all reports to the child protection services are screened by childcare professionals, some are dealt with immediately and closed, some referred to other services or agencies, and some are deemed to require an initial assessment.

A spokesperson said social workers were not affected by the Government’s moratorium.