Children's home workers 'not properly vetted'

Only 6% of child residential centres inspected by the Department of Health last year had proper vetting of staff in place at the time, a report found today.

The Social Services Inspectorate’s Annual Report also found that in some cases garda clearance was only received after the person had started work.

Launching the report, junior minister for Health & Children, Brian Lenihan also noted staff in some centres had not provided the recommended three references to their employers.

“This is a child protection issue. All staff caring for children must be properly vetted before being allowed to begin employment,” said a spokesperson for the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI).

The SSI will be making recommendations to the Department of Health on how to rectify discrepancies highlighted by its report.

Set up in 1999, the SSI inspects children’s residential centres run by health boards and has also now started inspecting foster care.

The main points of the report are:

:: There were approximately 4,500 children in the care of health boards.

:: The eastern region had the highest proportion of children in care, at 47 per 10,000 under 19.

:: The western region had just 25 per 10,000 under 19.

:: Approximately 88% of children in care were in foster care.

:: Nationally, there are 154 children’s residential centres including 15 high support units and two special care units for children with specific needs.

:: Of the 65 run in the non-statutory sector, 15 were run by private companies.

:: The average centre had four to five children but there were 22 centres that cared for only one child.

:: The overall occupancy rate of children’s residential centres was 77%.

:: Three-quarters of young people in residential centres were between 13 and 19 years-old, one quarter were under 12 years of age.

Inspectors said the day-to-day care of the children was generally good with regular contact with families and access to hobbies and activities like sleepovers with friends.

Health care was also generally good, but boards were urged to pay more attention to medical histories, the health of adolescents on admission and the mental health of the young people.

Inspectors found that managing problem behaviour posed difficulties with psychiatric services not available for 16 and 17-year-olds.

Also launched today was the Report of the Pilot Inspection of Foster Care Services which undertook a national audit of key aspects of foster care across all health boards.

It found one third of children in foster care were cared for in foster care provided by relatives.

However health boards had some children placed with relatives who had not been formally assessed.

Overall, 44% of relative foster carers had not been assessed, and this varied between 5% and 84% in different areas.