‘Overwhelmed’ care centre criticised

Health watchdog the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has criticised a centre for children in care, claiming staff were sometimes “overwhelmed” by the challenging behaviour of the young people staying there.

The unnamed centre, based in Dublin North East and which operates under Tusla — the Child and Family Agency — has places for children aged 12 to 18.

At the time of the inspection by Hiqa, it was home to two children.

According to the inspection report, there had been 386 significant events in the centre in the past 12 months.

“Children had engaged in various types of behaviour including property damage, self injurious behaviour, missing from care, violence and aggression and substance misuse,” said the report. “Some of the children were involved in criminal and other risky behaviour in the community.”

The inspection looked at eight standards and found none were met and in the case of four, “significant risks” were identified, including care of children and Safeguarding and Child Protection.

According to the report: “Staff were committed to the care of the children, however they were overwhelmed at times by the presenting needs and behaviours of the children which included criminal behaviour.”

The centre was based in a building on a quiet housing estate, but the report found “the systems to manage risks to the children were not effective in all cases”.

It said children’s rights were not sufficiently promoted in the centre and there were no records to show a set of house rules, sanctions or consequences to behaviour.

Gardaí were often called to the centre as a result of property damage and there was a process where criminal charges could be brought against the children but this had not brought about a change to behaviour.