HIQA criticises carer assessment failures

THE HSE was last night accused of failing to shore up foster care services in parts of Dublin after a report showed that almost all relative foster carers had not been assessed.

The inspection report into foster care services in Dublin North West was carried out and published by the Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA) as a follow-up to a damning report into the same area issued last year.

The latest report shows that of the 67 recommendations issued after the last report, just five had been met in full and 27 had not been met at all.

In addition:

- One-in-three children in the area still do not have an allocated social worker.

- 41% of foster carers have no link social worker.

- 55% of foster carers were not fully assessed and approved — up 11% since the previous report.

- There was an increase in the numbers of children placed together, with several foster homes having three or four children.

- Almost two-thirds of the foster carers in the region are relatives of the children, yet of those 83% have not been assessed.

- In 10 foster care files examined, Garda checks had not been obtained in two.

- The case files of one child over whom there were child protection concerns was missing.

- A lack of care plans in some cases, long investigation times in others where allegations were made against carers, and in one case eight years since a child’s care plan had been reviewed.

Children’s rights campaigners said the findings were “shocking” and “unbelievable” while Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald said: “This report is very worrying and I have asked the HSE to respond to the concerns raised by HIQA.”

The HIQA report does indicate that progress has been made in some areas, such as the 19% rise in the number of cases allocated a social worker — a fact acknowledged by Barnardos director of advocacy, Norah Gibbons. However, she said: “It does surprise me that there has been so little on-the-ground change.”

Dublin NW has one of the highest level of referral in the country and the report found “serious deficiencies in assigning social workers to children and their carers in DNW foster care were found during this follow-up inspection”.

There are Government plans to establish a Child and Family Support Agency as the statutory body looking after child welfare cases, but Ms Gibbons said the Dublin NW area had still not received “an equitable distribution of resources”.

Pat Dunne of HSE Dublin North East said work on ensuring full implementation of all recommendations would take place as quickly as possible.

www.hiqa.ie

Picture: Norah Gibbons: Little change on the ground. Photo: Nick Bradshaw