Minimise the suffering of children, don’t wait for a crisis

GIVEN what has emerged following the publication of the Roscommon inquiry report this week, it seems apparent that straightforward welfare and neglect concerns are often deemed not serious enough for social workers to follow through on.

While that was the case in the past, hopefully the lesson learned is that neglect can be as much a form of abuse as physical or sexual abuse.

In 2005, in the Galway Mayo Roscommon region, there were 2,051 reports made to the health service on child welfare grounds, as recorded in the Review of Adequacy of Child and Family services report.