Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 20 June 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

HIQA Report: Engagement with Tusla

2:00 pm

Dr. Aisling Gillen:

We had identified that the age profile, which Mr. Gibson talked about, is 24 to 29 years. When one encounters a group of social workers, one is absolutely taken by the youth in the room. Since it is important that we be very sharp in our diagnostics when we get referrals, we have loaded senior practitioner posts at the front door. Also part of this is the signs of safety framework, the objective being to have a very good assessment framework at the front door. It is a question of determining whether a case is a welfare case that could be managed in the community or a case that requires a response at a much higher level. We have very experienced people right across the system.