HSE fails to fully assess hundreds of foster carers

HUNDREDS of foster carers are not fully approved by the HSE, many do not have a link social worker and Children First Guidelines still have not been implemented in all areas, a Health and Information Quality Authority (HIQA) report into foster care services has revealed.

Following an inspection of foster services last year, a subsequent report by HIQA has found that of 12 recommendations made, just one was fully met, two were not met, and nine were partly met.

Last July, HIQA officials instructed the HSE to, as a matter of priority, ensure any deficiencies in the vetting of existing non-relative foster carers were identified and addressed.

This did not happen and HIQA said yesterday that, despite the recruitment of 200 new social workers in the past year, 324 foster carers nationally were still not fully assessed by the HSE.

Another recommendation made last year was to put a system in place to ensure foster carers deemed unsuitable did not have children placed with them. HIQA inspectors said that this recommendation was not met was “unacceptable”.

HIQA also said it was of critical importance that a national central register of all allegations made by children against foster carers be progressed “urgently”.

Another serious breach highlighted by HIQA is that many foster carers do not have link social workers. Neither could the HSE provide figures on the total number of foster carers nationally, or how many of these had not been assigned a link social worker.

Inspectors were also concerned about the lack of implementation of Children First Guidelines and the failure to assess the needs of all children with disabilities in foster care.

HIQA said the HSE did not indicate which local health areas had not fully implemented the Children First Guidelines.

Lack of care

- Despite recruitment of an additional 200 social workers, a significant number of children are still without an allocated social worker.

- 551 children have no statutory care plan.

- There is a lack of information on aftercare planning for young people.

- There is a lack of a complaints procedure accessible to children.

- There is a lack of assessments to enable matching children’s needs to foster carers who can meet those needs.