INCREASING numbers of child protection workers in the health boards regard their work as thankless and professionally risky, a conference of health boards has been told. Mandatory reporting was also discussed.
Mr Denis Doherty, chief executive officer of the Mid Western Health Board, told the annual conference of the Association of Health Boards in Ireland that if the problems of fear and low morale among staff continued, increasing numbers would leave for less pressured employment.
This could discourage young people from entering an area of work that was one of the most demanding and rewarding in society.
Referring to the responsibility of the community for the treatment of children, he said that over emphasis on the role and failures of child care professionals could lead to a neglect of the role of the general public and of other professionals.
The debate on mandatory reporting of suspected cases of child abuse had not so far, he said, seriously confronted the issues. Many involved implied that those who raised questions about mandatory reporting were not facing the full extent of child abuse.
However, this was a complex area with real difficulties. It raised the rights of those against whom false allegations were made, the danger of young pregnant women not seeking the medical help they needed, the creation of barriers between counsellors and their clients, and the necessary balance between investigation, treatment and prevention.
He pointed out that the families and individuals who came in contact with the child protection services were often very troubled, and hostile to those trying to help them.
"In the past year in one community care area in the Mid Western Health Board two people were jailed for separate assaults on staff," he said.
In the two boards with which he was familiar, 40 per cent of the child protection staff were in their 20s and 70 per cent were under 40-85 per cent were female. "We can ill afford to lose any of our experienced staff without weakening our child protection capability," he said.
The impact of recent scandals and inquiries had been profound, he added. "An undefined sense of collective unease appears to be developing." If this continued, experienced staff could be driven to leave. This could lead to a dependence on less experienced staff, with a lessening of standards and an increase in the risk to vulnerable children.
Children had never been as protected as they were now. Children and families felt more free to report abuse and services were more available and responsive to cries for help.
There were many positive developments in child care, especially the greater involvement of the community.
The proportion of children in care in foster homes had increased from 52 per cent in the mid 1980s to 74 per cent today. There had been a huge growth in family resource centres and various kinds of self help groups.
In his own health board the child protection staff had helped in the setting up of a family rights group, representing the families of children in care.
"We support it because we believe that all those interested in the welfare of children should be engaged in a process to contribute to their welfare. By engaging the parents, some of whom have been involved in abuse, we are getting to the core of the problem."
The Mid Western Health Board had just engaged Dr Harry Ferguson of UCC to carry out a study of all child abuse referrals in the region over a three month period.
He urged child care workers not to be discouraged by the current spate of inquiries.