Rise in child mandated domestic violence reports linked to Covid-19 pandemic

Tusla saw a spike in mandated reports since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

New data from the Child and Family Agency shows it received 426 mandated reports involving children from the manager of domestic violence shelters last year.

The figure, representing 3.6% of all mandated reports received by Tusla last year, is an increase on the number lodged in 2019 and is strongly linked to the impact of the pandemic.

In February of this year, the Irish Examiner revealed there had been a  76% rise in mandated reports from the same source in the first six weeks of this year, compared with the same period in 2020.

Domestic violence

Since the start of the pandemic, Tusla said it had prioritised Domestic, Sexual & Gender Based Violence (DSGBV) Services as one of its top three priority service areas, with a focus on domestic violence refuge services, rape crisis services and counselling.

That meant the allocation of an additional €1.9m in Covid-19 related funding to DSGBV organisations in 2020, on top of core funding of the sector, with a total of €30m in funding made available to the sector this year.

The data is contained in the monthly report for December, which shows a big fall in the overall number of mandated reports, with 62% fewer made that month compared with those made last November.

Overall, the number of mandated reports received by Tusla increased last year, despite the impact of lockdowns and the subsequent fall in the number of such reports that would typically come from teachers. 

The highest number of reports for December 2020 were for emotional abuse (466; 38%); physical abuse (346; 28%), sexual abuse (265; 22%) and neglect (138; 11%).

Retrospective abuse

December also saw the fourth consecutive monthly increase in the number of referrals for retrospective abuse being made to Tusla.

Tusla also published its quarterly report for the period October-December last year, which showed the number of incidents reported to its Early Years Inspectorate almost doubled last year compared with the figure for 2019.

It showed that 517 incidents were notified to the inspectorate in the last three months of 2020, the highest number for all quarters for two years, and bringing the total for 2020 to 774, a 92% annual increase.

That sharp rise came despite the closure of early years centres for some of the year due to the pandemic and a 58% fall in the number of unsolicited information submissions received by the inspectorate.

Applications for homeschooling

The quarterly report also showed a tripling in the number of applications for homeschooling last year, to 1,923, with 1,435 children awaiting a preliminary assessment for registration at the end of the year.

Elsewhere, the Tusla Education Support Service had 2,275 referrals screened by senior educational welfare officers for the four months from September to December, 36% more than the same period in the previous academic year.

It also worked with 1,259 new individual children in the same period, up 25%, but the number of school attendance notices fell by 83%.

There was a slight fall in the number of children in care last year and a similarly small drop in the number of foster carers, something Tusla has said it is seeking to address. 

Last year also saw a big increase in the number of new recruits to Tusla, while the report also described private residential and foster care costs, at €28.8m, as a key area of over-spend in 2020.