Child protection system unfit, says HSE family chief

IRELAND needs a properly functioning child protection system, the national director of children and family services for the Health Service Executive (HSE) said yesterday.

“It is my honest belief that Ireland doesn’t have a child protection system,” said Gordon Jeyes. “It is so inconsistent.”

Mr Jeyes, appointed in December following widespread concern about the deaths of children in care, said there were no clear child protection thresholds applied consistently across the country.

It would be easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for children to enter the child notification system in some parts of Ireland, he said.

Under the child notification system, details of every child considered at risk is entered by social workers and gardaí.

Mr Jeyes, who was speaking at a family law conference in Dublin organised by the Legal Aid Board, said it should be made clear that placing families on the child protection register was a measure to be taken to avoid a child being taken into care.

He wondered whether the high number of children in care was a consequence of more children not having being placed on the child protection register.

Families needed to be warned they were in “the last-chance saloon” and that they would be given support to avoid their children being taken into care.

Mr Jeyes also referred to a recent newspaper report that said the number of children in care of the HSE had risen to just over 6,000.

He pointed out that 83% of children in care had been placed in foster families, with the remaining 17% in residential care.

Earlier, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald, said the referendum to strengthen children’s rights would provide earlier supports to families, even in cases where parents objected to it.

Ms Fitzgerald said the Government had made no decision on the timing of the referendum, but did say, however, that it would not take place on the same day as the presidential election, expected in November.

“I want people to understand that the referendum is about protecting children’s rights — putting children into the Constitution, as well as families — and that it is about supporting children and families,” she said.

“I want a good clear debate on the issue and I think holding it on the same day as the presidential election would not be a good idea.”