Ms Michele Clarke:

Yes, or where the Garda is involved, abandonment, a risk of or a declaration of sexual abuse.

When children are on the unallocated high-priority list, they are on the duty social work team’s list. This team will have done an initial preliminary look at the issues, the cases and the background. They may have met the family or the child and gotten as much information as possible. On that basis, the team would have continued to monitor the case. It could be a telephone call, a visit or checking with a teacher or a nurse, who has seen the child, to see if the child’s situation is changing or is becoming less at a risk. There could be a case where a grandmother moves in and becomes protective in the child’s life. It is a very dynamic list in that way.

That is not to say, however, that Tusla is not keen to have allocated social workers for all of their cases and are working towards that. When we get into the bulk of the other cases, some of the cases in the low priority are those scheduled to need a family support service. The question, again, of increasing community supports will remove those families from this list. It is important to understand that once an assessment is done, it does not mean the case is closed. Social workers are engaged with thousands of children who are not in care and who are not waiting. They are working with their families and the children directly to ensure their situation is safe.