Social worker access ‘should not need parental consent’

CHILDREN should be able to access a social worker without parental consent as part of a new 24-hour, out-of-hours service, the ISPCC said yesterday.

Speaking before the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, the ISPCC said different options that would allow for increased access to social workers around the country also needed to be explored.

Speaking on the back of its 24-Hour Child campaign, the ISPCC said that 78% of calls to its Childline Service were out-of-hours calls.

It also said it received 28,000 calls last year regarding child abuse, and has 100 callers who phone up to three times a week, again mostly out-of-hours.

ISPCC director of services Caroline O’Sullivan said there were four key elements to how any new 24-hour service should operate:

* A fully resourced 24-hour professional social care service.

* Major emphasis on preventative services, which would reduce the need for crisis intervention.

* Integration of existing services, particularly among NGOs, to avoid overlapping.

* Children should be able to access support without parental consent.

She said social work and community care teams were dealing with 20,000 referrals a year, and that the ISPCC had itself beefed up its own services to provide a round-the-clock service – a model which could be replicated by statutory bodies.

ISPCC chief executive Ashley Balbirnie said figures as high as €20 million had been quoted regarding the cost of a 24-hour, out-of-hours service, but whatever the cost it should be treated as a priority by the Government.

He also said a children’s rights referendum and the placing of the Children First guidelines on a statutory footing would also ensure that childcare providers had to adhere to minimum legal standards.

The ISPCC also said it favoured the formation of a new child death review mechanism, as 20 children in State care have died over a six-year period.

Meanwhile, the Children’s Rights Alliance will tell Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin today that it is a mistake to means-test or tax child benefit.

The CRA has already met with the chair and secretary of the Commission on Taxation, Frank Daly, and Jim Kelly, and will tell the minister that revenue can be raised by taxing the rich, and not by “raiding piggy banks”.