Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As part of its budget submission for 2016, Tusla identified a need for extra staffing to meet critical service concerns, including children with no allocated social worker. Funding of €6.1 million was allocated to Tusla for this purpose. Tusla has set a target of a net increase of 168 social workers by the end of 2016. It will be important to recruit other grades as well to ensure an efficient service with the right mix of staffing, including family support staff and administrative support.

Tusla has been proactive in its efforts to meet its recruitment targets in a competitive environment for professional staff. Progress is being made, and at the end of April 2016, an additional 110 social workers were employed directly by Tusla compared with the same period in 2015. Tusla has also established its own in-house recruitment team, Tusla Recruit, which has engaged directly with third level institutions to promote Tusla as an employer of choice. While it is still early days, this approach appears to be working, with more than 290 expressions of interest in response to a recent graduate campaign. Tusla will commence interviewing these graduates during the summer.

I assure the Deputy that all urgent and emergency child protection cases are dealt with immediately. Cases that are unallocated are closely monitored, supported and managed by the duty social work team under the supervision of the principal social worker. Unallocated cases are often cases where a child has just come into care and is awaiting allocation of a social worker, or where a child is in a very stable fostering placement, provided perhaps by a relative.

Cases are subject to ongoing reviews and, where appropriate, the level and nature of support being provided will change depending on the needs of the child. Tusla has advised me that there was a significant reduction of 17% in the number of open cases awaiting allocation of a social worker at the end of March 2016 compared to December 2015.

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