The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published an inspection report on the child protection and welfare service operated by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) in the Cavan Monaghan service area.

HIQA is authorised by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth under Section 8(1)(c) of the Health Act 2007 to monitor the quality of services provided by Tusla to protect children and promote their welfare. HIQA monitors Tusla’s performance against the National Standards for the Protection and Welfare of Children and advises the Minister and Tusla.

HIQA conducted an inspection of the Cavan Monaghan service area over three days in May and June 2022. This inspection assessed compliance with the national standards relating to the management of children who are at ongoing significant risk of harm and who are placed on Tusla’s Child Protection Notification System (CPNS). Of the six standards assessed, four were found to be compliant and two were substantially compliant.  

Overall, HIQA found that the service provided a good quality, safe service to children identified as at ongoing risk of significant harm in the area. Children listed on the CPNS received a social work service which had effective leadership, governance and management arrangements. Some areas required improvement, such as sharing records with families in a more timely way.

The area had effective local policies and procedures in place to guide staff and ensure children on the CPNS were safeguarded. These were in place as the interim national guidelines on child protection case conferencing and the CPNS had not been reviewed by Tusla at the time of inspection. These national guidelines have since been updated and the service have outlined their plans to implement them. 

While the timeliness of initial child protection conferences required improvement, review conferences happened in a timely manner to meet children’s individual needs. The majority of child protection safety plans were of good quality, were monitored appropriately via regular social work visits and identified suitable supports for families. 

The inspection report and compliance plan are available at the link below.