A new report by the health watchdog has found major issues in the implementation of child protection and welfare by Túsla in Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal and West Cavan.
An inspection by HIQA, carried out in August last year in the counties has found that the majority of standards assessed were not compliant.
The health watchdog says that overall, assessments were not completed in line with time frames set out in Túsla’s own procedures.
No Child Abuse Substantiation Procedure was concluded within the 14 months since its commencement.
HIQA says the procedure overall was not efficient, and not person centered.
The inspection indicated that children were not always at the centre of the implementation of CASP in this area due to:
- The delays in Garda vetting notifications potentially placed children at risk.
- The delays in communication with children and their families.
- The delays in identifying children who possibly had contact with alleged abusers due to cases awaiting allocation at preliminary enquiry stage.
- It was not consistently evident on files if a child was safe and protected.
- Identified children were referred to child protection and welfare services, and managers of the service advised inspectors that such safeguarding information was on the child’s child protection and welfare (CPW) file; however, best practice would be to have this clearly stated on the CASP file.
- There was no national guidance, only newly introduced local guidance, on how to identify and respond to suspected organisational or institutional abuse, or how to identify especially vulnerable children.
Túsla says it acknowledges today’s publication. It says it "receives consistent and robust regulation and oversight by various external bodies, including HIQA. This oversight assists us in ensuring that our practices deliver good quality and appropriate services for children and families. We are aware that we have further work to do, and this process of improvement of the quality of our services set against high standards and regulation is an ongoing process."
