Child protection system 'unsympathetic and intimidating'

People who used the state’s child protection system found it unsympathetic, powerful and intimidating, a report said today.

Social workers also failed to return calls which service users found to be insulting and degrading, the study by academic Dr Helen Buckley found.

Children & Youth Affairs Minister Barry Andrews, who launched the report, admitted that the state’s child protection system was not perfect but was working reasonably well across the country.

The document, Service Users’ Perceptions of the Irish Child Protection System also found that parents were often mistaken about the powers of social workers to remove their children from them.

“This is largely due to preconceived ideas and attitudes as well as conflicting views about what constitutes adequate parenting,” said Dr Buckley.

The academic noted that some users found it difficult to get a response, even when they were seriously worried about their children, particularly in situations of domestic violence and where parents had separated in acrimonious circumstances.

Young interviewees also expressed frustration at the length of time they had to wait for services.

“Interviewees were very dissatisfied with the way that mistaken or malicious reports about them were handled,” stated Dr Buckley.“

Although direct help, support and advice were valued, service users tended to define the quality of services principally on the manner in which they were delivered.

“Where calls were not returned, or arrangements breached by child protection staff, service users found this to be insulting and degrading,” added Dr Buckley.

Mr Andrews urged all adults working with kids to be aware of possible signs of abuse and to know how to report their concerns.

The minister also a national review of Children First – a 1999 blueprint for the protection and welfare of children published after a report into clerical sex abuse in the Ferns Diocese.

Mr Andrews said: “Child protection is not a perfect system but it works reasonably well throughout the country.”

He added: “Anyone who works with, has responsibility for, or comes into contact with children should be aware of the signs of abuse, be alert to the possibility of abuse, and be familiar with the basic procedures to report their concerns.”

Mr Andrews said that some guidelines had not been implemented because of local infrastructural issues rather than from fundamental difficulties with the guidelines themselves.

The best way forward is through improved implementation of the existing guidelines, training, education and good recruitment procedures, the minister urged.