THE OFFICE of the Minister for Children and the Health Service Executive (HSE) have failed to properly implement child safety guidelines over the past decade leaving children at risk of abuse.
This is the key finding of a major report by Ombudsman for Children Emily Logan, who said it was simply impossible to tell if practice on the ground in Ireland is any good due to a lack of external inspection or internal audit of child protection services.
“Some of the problems identified – variable practice, a lack of internal and external scrutiny and a failure of inter-agency collaboration – indicate a need for a fundamental change in culture and attitude towards child protection,” said Ms Logan in a 95-page report on the implementation of the Children First guidelines for the protection and welfare of children.
The guidelines were first introduced by the Government in 1999 to provide guidance to staff working in child protection.
The report identifies critical weaknesses in the child protection system, which should have been addressed through proper implementation of the guidelines.
Half of HSE local health offices do not have proper local procedures to implement guidelines or have only recently drawn them up
A failure in most parts of the country to provide 24-hour access to the Child Protection Notification System, which provides information on children at risk to health workers and the Garda
A lack of formal co-operation between the HSE and Garda when a child is deemed at risk
No external reviews or inspections of childcare services have taken place since 2003
Just one area in the country Cork/Kerry conducted an internal audit of child protection case files
This audit in the Southern Health Board area, which was completed in 2003/4, uncovered “worrying” findings.
Three-quarters of child protection files had no record of the outcome of an assessment by social workers and initial assessments took 95 days on average, the report says.
The report makes two findings of “unsound administration” on the part of the Office of the Minister for Children. It said it failed to put in place proper mechanisms to implement the guidelines between 2003 and 2008, which has led to a lack of collaboration between different State agencies.
It also criticises the department for failing to disclose an ongoing industrial relations dispute with Impact trade union, which means social workers still do not process administrative aspects of the guidelines due to a lack of staff.
The report makes nine findings of “unsound administration” on the part of the HSE, which it concludes did not make child protection services a priority during a period of fundamental reform.
The HSE acknowledged in a statement last night that many of its childcare services were not being delivered “in a standardised or consistent manner” and so did not comply with the guidelines.
Phil Garland, assistant national director of the HSE’s children and families social services, said ongoing reforms would introduce uniform policies and procedures for social work practice to ensure more consistency across the State.
Minister for Children Barry Andrews welcomed the report, which he said “recognises the advances made since 2008 and the potential of these initiatives to realise effective change”.
Recommendations: child protection notification system among proposals:
Social work resources should be better matched to reflect different needs across the country
Application of the revised Children First guidelines to churches should be made explicit
HSE strategic review should consider if childcare services are best delivered by the agency
Social Services Inspectorate should examine case files when it recommences inspection of child protection work
A national Child Protection Notification System should be created instead of local systems
Funding should be provided to set up an “out of hours” service for children in need of care
Set up a dedicated child protection service within the Garda
Provide list of all convicted sex offenders in an area to local health offices to assess risk to children