THE HEALTH Service Executive has pledged to improve child protection services following reports which show up to 35 young people who were known to social services have died over the past 18 months.
Most young people died from natural causes, followed by suicide, accidents and drug overdoses. The deaths include children who were known to social services or previously had contact with child protection services. Only three children were in the care system at the time of their death.
The National Review Panel – a group established by the HSE to investigate all deaths and serious incidents of children in care – has found that the inaction of the HSE was not directly linked to any deaths.
However, the independent chair of the group, Dr Helen Buckley of Trinity College Dublin, criticised the HSE for numerous failures which led to sub-standard care in some cases.
She said the HSE was responsible for failing to have a standardised method to assess the needs of children and young people who come to the attention of social services.
There was a lack of co-operation and communication between different agencies responsible for providing services to children at risk.
In addition, she said pressure on frontline social work services meant they were unable to respond quickly to many child welfare referrals.
In one case highlighted – the death of a four-month old baby “Baby G” – it took almost two years for social services to meet face-to-face with the child’s mother, despite serious welfare concerns for her family.
Paul Harrison, the HSE’s national child care specialist, sympathised with families who have lost children.
He said the executive was working to introduce standardised assessments of children at risk from next year onwards. He added officials were examining new ways of handling “how cases come in through the front door”, and making greater use of community and voluntary groups.
The annual report for the National Review Panel also states that its workload is “virtually impossible” to carry out due to the number of cases it is required to investigate.
While initial estimates suggested the panel would be likely to deal with just two deaths and eight serious incidents a year, the panel dealt with some 22 deaths and eight serious incidents in 2010 alone.
Children’s groups including the Children’s Rights Alliance and Epic – which represents children in care – called on health authorities to urgently address the gaps and deficits highlighted in the report.