State’s sobering failures must lead to real change
For the child who, for whatever reason, finds him or herself separated from family, the significance of mementos such as this cannot be downplayed. Yet the very body tasked with safeguarding the welfare of children in care has shown scant regard for these prized souvenirs.
Records released under freedom of information to the Irish Examiner during the week show a singular failure by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to protect highly personal belongings of children in its care. Baby bracelets, photographs and letters were found to have fallen from the files of children in foster care with nothing to identify to whom they belonged.
To compound this careless approach to personal histories, files were stored unlocked, some had gone missing and others had incorrect names and dates of birth. The failings were highlighted by the Health Information and Quality Authority, (HIQA), the independent health watchdog.
Far more sobering however are the failures in security when it comes to the actual child. Correspondence between HIQA and the HSE between September 2009 and January of this year shows alarming deficiencies in fostering services in Dublin North West, which includes communities north of the Liffey as far as Clonsilla, St Margaret’s, Finglas, Blanchardstown, Glasnevin, Castleknock and Cabra; and in Dublin North Central including Ballymun, Beaumont, Santry, North Inner City, Drumcondra, Dollymount, Fairview and Clontarf. HIQA chief executive Dr Tracey Cooper described HIQA’s findings as “extremely serious” in letters to HSE chiefs.
Among HIQA’s findings were that out of approximately 700 children in care in the two Dublin areas, almost 200 had no allocated social worker in breach of child care regulations and standards for foster care. In addition, 171 out of 444 foster carers has no link worker, the social worker assigned by the HSE to be primarily responsible for the supervision and support of foster carers. Another 243 children had not been visited by a child and family social worker in the last six months and 272 children had been placed with relatives who had not been approved within 12 weeks of initial placement.
In response to these serious concerns, the HSE sent details of an action plan to HIQA (HIQA had requested an action plan and implementation plan and had advised the HSE it intended to commence monitoring performance of HSE staff on a three-weekly basis against the implementation plan) including a promise to end the use of unapproved foster care placements with immediate effect. However, six weeks later, HIQA wrote again to the HSE saying it had been told a number of children had again been placed with non-approved, non-assessed carers.
HIQA has concerns about fostering services in other areas of the country outside of Dublin. In total, seven local health office areas — three in Dublin and four in Cork — are the subject of an ongoing investigation on foot of concerns brought to the watchdog. Correspondence released by HIQA also shows 19 investigations of allegations against foster carers in Dublin North West and North Central, some of which relate to child protection concerns of a sexual nature.
But perhaps the most worrying aspect of all of these failings is that, instead of being confined to the past, they have come to light since the publication of both the Ryan Report (May 2009) and the Murphy Report (September 2009), both of which examined clerical sex abuse of children and in the aftermath of which the Government promised to fill an additional 270 social work posts so that all children in care would have access to a designated social worker, a critical safety net for a vulnerable child. On October 5, the HSE gave a guarantee to HIQA that every child coming into care would have an allocated social worker “with immediate effect”. It did not make the same commitment to children already in care. Following a query from the Irish Examiner this week, the HSE confirmed of 12 children in supported lodgings in Dublin North West, two did not have an allocated social worker.
The tragic consequences of an inadequate care system are embodied in the grim and familiar stories of Tracey Fay, 18-year-old mother-of two, and Danny Talbot, 19, who died of a drug overdose and suspected drug overdose respectively while in state care.
Add to their stories the details of the 16-year-old boy, left overnight in an internet cafe earlier this week while awaiting a psychiatric assessment, or the 17-year-old sex abuse victim with mental health difficulties “cut loose” by the HSE, according to allegations made this week by Fine Gael.
Yesterday, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Barry Andrews, released a statement saying he had met with senior officials of the HSE this week to discuss “a number of matters relating to child welfare and protection services, including the issue of foster care”. The minister said he had emphasised to the HSE the importance of ensuring that comprehensive plans are in place as a priority to address weaknesses identified by both the HSE and HIQA in the provision of foster care.
He also said there was a need to ensure that these plans are fully delivered upon in the shortest possible timeframe. While we are moving in the right direction, for some children, progress is simply too slow. It is time to do what champion for the homeless, Fr Peter McVerry has suggested: let the Government show the same resolve in tackling the failures in services for children in care as it did when setting up NAMA, when it would brook no opposition and no resources were spared. Let the Government say “We will do whatever it takes” and not “We will do the best we can with what we have.”
