Third of children's homes not vetting staff properly

Almost a third of children’s homes inspected by the country’s health service watchdog are not properly vetting staff, it emerged tonight.

A damning report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found youngsters were being put at risk by the failure to research the background of workers.

Of 38 centres investigated, three failed to get proper garda clearance for staff and another 12 did not have enough references on file.

Hiqa’s national children in care inspection report said it was seriously concern about the lack of vetting, warning it may put children at unnecessary risk.

Some 5,500 children are in state care, with around 89% or 4,900 in foster care.

The report examined foster care services in the Dublin South West health area and revealed over two-thirds of relative carers had not been properly vetted.

“Such a practice is unsafe,” said Dr Marion Witton, Hiqa’s social services chief inspector.

The probe also revealed that just 40% of relative foster carers had access to a social worker.

Dr Witton said: “There were a number of areas of foster care practice which need to improve including the assessment and training of foster carers, the provision of out-of-hours emergency social work services and the monitoring of child protection concerns.”

The Health Service Executive said it was boosting its services around children’s care, while Children’s Minister Barry Andrews said he was worried about the lack of social workers.

The report also found:

* In one fifth of the residential care centres children were absent on a regular basis

* Staff in a number of centres could not deal with difficult and unsafe behaviour including sexual exploitation, alcohol, drug and substance misuse and in a minority of cases, criminal activity.

* Standards in care planning were not met in all the centres inspected, with insufficient or no plans in place in four centres for children preparing to leave.

* Ten centres had poor accommodation, with inspectors recommending that three be relocated as a matter of priority as the buildings were not fit for use.

* Almost half of centres did not meet proper fire safety requirements.

* Recommendations from health and safety audits were not implemented in a fifth of the centres inspected.

Mr Andrews said the Government had set out its plans to reform children’s services in the wake of the Ryan Report, but he acknowledged there were concerns over access to social workers for children in foster care.

“While the vast majority of children in care have an allocated social worker... it is worrying to note in this report that only 40% of relative foster carers reviewed in that particular service had an allocated social worker,” he said.

The HSE said the report’s findings would be examined to help boost services for children in care.

Opposition politicians rounded on the Government, claiming failures in ensuring the safety of children in state care would come back to haunt them.

Alan Shatter, Fine Gael’s children’s spokesman, highlighted the fact that two-thirds of relative foster carers had not been vetted.

“This is extremely worrying as it is sadly all too well-known that being cared for by a relative does not automatically mean a child is safe from harm,” he said.

Senator Alex White, Labour’s children’s spokesman, said the state should have learned from past mistakes.

“We now know a great deal about the state’s failure down the decades to properly care for children, whether in industrial schools, orphanages, Magdalene laundries or indeed in schools,” Mr White said.

“With the ramifications of these failures still being felt by the victims, surely it would not be unreasonable to expect that lessons would have been learned, and that the every possible step would be taken to provide the full protection that these vulnerable children require.”