‘Places a priority’ for children at risk

Intervention for children at risk should be made on the basis of identified need, rather than availability of places, according to the chairperson of the National Review Panel on the deaths of children known to care services.

Helen Buckley was speaking at an event entitled ‘Working with Complexity’ where attendees also heard that the role of domestic violence in childcare cases is too often unseen.

In one Tusla area, it had made 21 special care applications in recent years — each one involved domestic violence — but none of the young people came to the attention of social workers until they were aged 12 or 13.