Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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107. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children waiting to be allocated a social worker by length of time waiting, geographical area, and whether the children are deemed to be high priority. [44416/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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In September 2015 Tusla reported there were 19,466 children (open cases) who had an allocated social worker dealing with issues of assessment, child protection, and children in care. There were a further 7,013 children (open cases) who had been assessed as needing a dedicated social worker, and were waiting for one to be allocated. Some of these cases may have had an allocated social worker, but due to a social worker leaving, they are reclassified as awaiting a social worker. I wish to assure the Deputy that all urgent and emergency cases are dealt with immediately. This could involve cases of abandonment, allegations of physical and sexual abuse, parental ill health and the need to find an immediate placement, or threat to the safety or life of a child by a third party.

The priority (or category) of high, medium or low given to the case after a preliminary enquiry, is based on the information known at that time. It is important to note that "high priority" should not simply be equated with risk. Social work duty teams keep high priority cases under review with regular checks to ascertain risk to the child, and where necessary, will reprioritise the case. Duty teams manage the cases awaiting allocation on a risk management basis by checking on the circumstances, and observing any changes that would increase or decrease risk. An example could be the presence or absence of a stable grandparent where a parent has a mental health problem which could impact on the priority associated with the case.

This Department continues to monitor the number of cases that are reported as awaiting the allocation of a social worker. The additional funding of €38 million which has been secured for Tusla in 2016 will provide increased resources to meet identified risks and service demands. The additional resources are intended to alleviate service pressures in child welfare and protection services, in particular pressures being faced in the areas of unallocated cases, private residential and foster care and domestic, sexual and gender based violence services. The information requested by the Deputy relating to geographical area and priority level is detailed in Table 1.

Table 1: Number of Cases Awaiting Allocation by Priority Level and Area

The information requested by the Deputy relating to waiting time and priority level is outlined in Table 2.

Table 2: Length of Waiting Times for Cases Awaiting Allocation by Priority Level