Hiqa escalates matters to Tusla managers after finding risks to children in Cork and Dublin

The oversight body found that while Tusla has undertaken substantial initiatives in recruitment, there are challenges in that area and in retaining staff like social workers in services that had substantial waiting lists.

Risks to individual children had to be escalated to Tusla area managers during inspections of its child protection and welfare services by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), the watchdog has said.

In Cork and Dublin South Central, the responses Hiqa got at regional level didn’t provide the “necessary assurances” which led it to escalate matters to Tusla’s CEO.

The oversight body found that while Tusla has undertaken substantial initiatives in recruitment, there are challenges in that area and in retaining staff like social workers in services that had substantial waiting lists.

It said this resulted in significant delays in the screening of referrals, the conducting of preliminary enquiries into cases and the allocation of children to a social worker. Many children continue to experience “significant delays” in receiving a social worker-led service, according to Hiqa.

“It is crucial that children have access to the right service for them at the right time to support their development and promote their safety and rights,” its head of programme for children’s services Eva Boyle said.

“Children have also told us over the years how important it is to have trusted adults that they can speak with. 

In these services, we found that many children did not have an allocated social worker, and were not receiving a timely and consistent service. 

Hiqa also identified issues with governance and management, as well as risk management, in both reports. It said there was a lack of oversight in services which meant that gaps in practice were not always identified, with the risk not identified or prioritised.

In the cases of 300 children in Dublin, Hiqa escalated these cases assessed as being at low or medium priority. In Donegal, five of the 10 cases escalated required social workers to visit those children the same day.

“It demonstrated that not all children at actual or potential risk were being assessed in a timely manner and where necessary, protected by Tusla in a timely and effective manner,” it said.

Staff at Tusla were described as not receiving regular and effective supervision and support to safely deliver services in some child protection and foster care services.

It also said that the national out-of-hours service was not operating under Tusla’s existing governance and information systems. It said this meant the service was “reactive rather than proactive” in meeting the emergency needs of vulnerable children.

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Hiqa said an inter-departmental approach will be required to plan for the resourcing and delivery of children's services in future.

Ms Boyle added: “We have worked closely with Tusla to ensure improvements are made in the services provided to children and have monitored progress in this area over 2024.

“Since these inspections, substantial improvements have been made and Tusla has committed to continue to improve its services for children.”

Furthermore, Tusla has submitted compliance plans to the watchdog while HIQA will continue to monitor child protection services, with further inspections set to be completed this year.