Ms Louise Bayliss:

We have concerns that Tusla is very underfunded and very under-resourced at the moment, so social workers are not available for every child who needs one. In general, we are finding that if a child is in emergency accommodation or at risk of homelessness, if there is a protective parent there, Tusla is very hands-off, which is why we are very strongly advocating for child support workers. If Tusla is not in a position to provide a social worker, a child support worker is essential. The reason we say that is that our child support workers have talked to children and in many cases they will burden themselves with the worry about homelessness. Even though mothers do their best to protect them, they hear their mothers in the bathroom crying when they think the children are asleep. They are listening to that so they will not tell their parents their fears. What we find is that when a child support worker starts working with a child, the floodgates open because the child support work is always done in a neutral zone, usually the schools, so the child support worker will go where the parent cannot be there and the child has that place to offload. That is essential. We know that Tusla does not have the resources or is not providing that. That is why we are saying we need child support workers-----