'Unmanageable caseloads' of social workers in Cork means children wait months for help

On Tuesday in its annual report, Hiqa noted that, nationally, "access to sufficient resources in terms of staffing and suitable placements for children presented a challenge to Tusla during 2021". File Photo: Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland

Some social workers in Tusla Cork have unmanageable caseloads, with some new referrals of children in need of assistance not being dealt with "in a timely manner" and others waiting months for direct intervention.

The findings are contained in a new inspection report of Tusla Cork by the health watchdog Hiqa, which found that of the 12 standards it assessed in the area, it was compliant with just two.

The Health and Information Quality Authority (Hiqa) said there had been improvements in the area since previous inspections in 2020 and 2021, particularly in governance, but it said there were still "significant gaps in foster care placements for children with complex needs".

"In particular, the availability of a suitable range of care placements for a small, highly vulnerable, group of children was inadequate," it found. There were also other issues uncovered in the inspection.

"There remained areas of social work practice where the pace, level or impact of change had been relatively slow," the report said. 

"Social workers for children in care reported ongoing challenges in managing their caseloads to ensure statutory regulations were consistently met. While decisions about the de-allocation of children in care were informed by management analysis of risk, including the stability of their placement, children in these circumstances experienced different social workers. 

"This often occurred on an issue or short-term basis, which inevitably detracted from the provision of a child-centred service."

It also noted differences between the four social work departments which operate in the area.

It said:

One social work department indicated that 10 of its practitioners had unmanageable caseloads due to the significant challenges it faced in recruiting staff, combined with high levels of turnover in the past year.

"Other departments had not formally flagged practitioner caseloads as unmanageable. However, two other departments continued to lack the capacity to allocate all new referrals in a timely manner. 

"These teams had a high number of cases which were designated as ‘awaiting allocation’; with some children waiting many months before any direct work was done with them and their families.

"Safety plans were not sufficiently developed or reviewed for some children referred to child protection and welfare teams."

The most recent monthly report issued by the Child and Family Agency, for last March, shows Cork had the highest number of children in their care of any Tusla area in the country, at 733. 

It is also one of the areas that receive the highest number of mandated child protection and welfare reports and mandated reports relating to retrospective abuse.

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On Tuesday in its annual report, Hiqa noted that, nationally, "access to sufficient resources in terms of staffing and suitable placements for children presented a challenge to Tusla during 2021". Despite ongoing recruitment drives and retention initiatives, staff vacancies remained constant.

"These vacancies required Tusla to prioritise its allocation of available staff, and a national approach was taken to ensure children at most risk received a social work service. In addition, Tusla put systems in place to manage growing waitlists, which was more effective in some service areas than others."

As for Tusla Cork, the inspection report said additional time and resources were required to address ongoing waiting lists and delays in responding to local needs.