Tusla policy marks ‘shift in provision of family support’

Tusla has said adequate resources are in place to deliver on its newly launched Child Protection and Welfare Strategy that aims to tackle, over the next five years, deficits in existing services.

The Child and Family Agency hopes the strategy, which runs until 2022 and which will be the subject of annual reviews, will address issues such as the number of cases where a social worker has not been allocated, inconsistencies in how cases are dealt with, and ease the administrative burden on social workers so they can carry out more face-to-face work with clients.

Tusla chief executive Fred McBride said the strategy, which includes a new national approach to the practice called the Signs of Safety, marked “a fundamental shift in the provision of family support, child protection, educational welfare, and alternative care services”.