Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for this Topical Issue and welcome the opportunity to speak on what is an extremely important matter. There are approximately 6,000 children in care in the State today. The majority of these children live with foster carers and a small number live in residential care. Appropriate oversight of foster care placements is important to ensure that the needs of children are met and that foster carers are supported.

Under the National Standards for Foster Care 2003 and the Placement of Children in Care Regulations 1995, children in care are required to have a written care plan and an allocated social worker, while foster carers are required to have a dedicated link worker. These dedicated staff members have a key role to play in placement stability and ensuring that the evolving needs of children are met. In addition, regular contact with social workers is a protective factor for vulnerable children. Children should feel that their social worker knows and understands them and takes their concerns seriously. Where a child does not have a social worker, it can end up causing frustration for the child, and it puts additional pressure on the social work area to ensure that planning and child in care reviews happen in a timely manner.

The Deputy specifically refers to the Carlow, Kilkenny and south Tipperary area. HIQA's inspections of services in this Tulsa area. including most recently in October 2020, clearly demonstrate pressures within the service, including staffing shortages and unallocated cases. Over recent years, this area has been one of five with a disproportionately high number of unallocated cases when compared to the remaining 12 Tusla regions, and the Deputy made reference to these five regions. Issues in the most recent HIQA inspections were specifically linked to vacancies in the area at the time the inspections took place. Since then, Tusla has worked intensively to address issues within this area. It is important to note that HIQA has accepted the action plan Tusla has provided in response to these inspections. Among the key actions were the prioritising of recruitment of social workers for the children in care team and assigning a social care worker and a link worker to every child in care who was unallocated. These cases are monitored on a weekly basis by the principal social worker, and children's statutory care plans are kept up to date.

The cyberattack has impacted on Tusla's performance reporting. I am going to follow up with Tusla on the matter and will write to the Deputy directly to give the most up-to-date account in terms of meeting the action plan.

It is encouraging to note that the inspections also found evidence of highly-dedicated social workers and other Tusla staff who are clearly committed to providing quality services to children and families. Inspectors also found that most children are happy with their foster carers and the vast majority of foster care placements are stable, which is so important for these young people. HIQA, as the regulatory body, plays a key role in ensuring that services are accountable.

The recruitment and retention of social workers is a priority for Tusla, requiring investment now and into the future. In some areas, including the area to which the Deputy refers, there are staff shortages on social work teams. It is clear from Tusla's own performance reporting and regulatory inspections that these staffing shortages are impacting service delivery in a minority of Tusla’s regions.

It is important to note that children whose care is unallocated still receive a social work service. These children are looked after by social work team leaders and duty teams, and are reallocated to a named social worker as soon as possible. It is Tusla policy that no child without an allocated social worker should be placed with foster carers who do not have a link worker.

In terms of the measures Tusla has taken to improve recruitment, it now has its own in-house recruitment service and actively engages with third-level institutions to attract new graduates. Almost two thirds of social work graduates this year were recruited directly by Tusla. In addition, Tusla has had success in turning agency staff into full-time staff.

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