‘Child agency facing a crisis a year’

The Government has been warned that it faces “a crisis a year” unless it starts ploughing additional funds into the cash-strapped Child and Family Agency, Tusla.

The warning came after it emerged that a review of child protection services found that, as of the end of last February, there were 27,337 open cases, 5,000 of which had not yet been allocated a social worker.

The review also suggested 44% of social workers reported an unmanageable caseload burden, and that some children were waiting years to be allocated a social worker.