Child protection guide seeks better abuse response rate

A PROFESSIONAL guide on child protection aimed at improving the response rate to child abuse was launched yesterday by Children’s Minister, Frances Fitzgerald.

Developed by the Health Service Executive’s National Office for Children and Family Services, it is designed to ensure a consistent and collective approach to child abuse and neglect by social workers and other professionals.

It emphasises the importance of sharing of information between agencies and disciplines in the best interest of children and the need for full co-operation to ensure better outcomes.

“It takes a whole community to keep a child safe and we all have a responsibility for ensuring the safety of children in Ireland,” said Ms Fitzgerald.

National director of Children and Family Services HSE, Gordon Jeyes, said the handbook was aimed at promoting accountable, consistent and transparent practices in line with Children First Guidance 2011, published earlier this year.

“We must report and share information but we must also retain a collective responsibility for putting children first. Always, not sometimes, children first.” he said.

Ms Fitzgerald said her department was finalising legislation to put the Children First Guidance on a statutory footing that was due to be introduced before the end of the year.

“The legislation would apply to all organisations and persons who worked with or were in contact with children and would include statutory requirements to make reports, share information and co-operate with the HSE and gardaí where they are involved with a child about whom there are concerns.

“We are working on the heads of the bill at present and it is on the ‘A’ list in this Dáil, which means it is priority legislation.

“So, hopefully, we will have the legislation by the end of the year, certainly published, if not enacted,” she said.

Ms Fitzgerald said a range of sanctions would apply for people who did not follow the law on mandatory reporting.

Asked how she could go about ensuring that all social workers were vetted for working with children with limited resources, she said this was an issue that was being urgently addressed by the Government.

Children’s charity Barnardos said the handbook would be particularly important in establishing clear division of roles and lines of authority and responsibility in practice.

* hse.ie/go/childrenfirst