Tusla pushes ahead with external review panels

The Irish Association of Social Workers says it is surprised that Tusla is pushing ahead with setting up new external review panels that could be asked to reassess or even look to overturn a social work team decision in alleged cases of child abuse and neglect.

The panels are being formed to work within Tusla’s child abuse substantiation procedure, which has yet to be launched.

It would see panels reviewing the process by which social work teams carried out an assessment of an allegation and came to their finding. The person subject to an allegation of abuse could ask to have those finding reviewed by the external review panel, which would then have the power to have it set aside, including with a recommendation that a fresh review be conducted.

The details are contained in a tender issued by Tusla this week, but the professional body which represents social workers said the child abuse substantiation procedure is not yet in place and meetings the Irish Association of Social Workers had sought with Tusla to discuss how that new process could work have not been held because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Association chairwoman Aine McGuirk said: “The professional body have yet to have a meeting with them [Tusla], we have sought meetings and we have not had that meeting yet because of Covid. It does strike us as premature to be going ahead with other elements that will come into play when child abuse substantiation procedure is rolled out.

“This [external panel process] may be required to be necessary in order to have sufficient safety valves for everybody, including the person subject to an allegation of abuse, but to me that looks like the final bit rather than getting the panel on the ground [first]. I think social workers might be upset to see this being put in place when other concerns have not been addressed.”

A spokesperson for Tusla confirmed the panels are a new departure “arising from the yet-to-be launched child abuse substantiation procedure”. According to the tender, Tusla’s legal directorate is seeking panel members for a “review panel to deal with independent reviews from social work investigations of allegations of abuse and neglect.”

It said if Tusla receives an allegation of abuse or neglect the social work department where the person subject to an allegation of abuse resides must assess it and reach a finding. It said that, under the child abuse substantiation procedure policy, “every person subject to an allegation of abuse will be entitled, if they opt for a review, to have this finding reviewed by an external review panel who will review both the social work professional decision making and also whether there has been compliance with fair procedure in the conduct of the investigations”.

The two-person review panel, made up of a social worker and a legal advisor, would review the assessment and reach a finding, based on terms of reference that include examining “whether fair procedures were afforded to the person subject to an allegation of abuse at all stages of the substantiation investigation process”.

It can then take a number of options, including upholding the conclusion of the social work investigation, setting it aside, or remitting the matter to Tusla with a recommendation that the allegations be investigated by a new social work team.