The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published two inspection reports on the child protection and welfare and foster care services provided by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla’s) Separated Children Seeking International Protection team. The Separated Children Seeking International Protection service offers an urgent response to the needs of unaccompanied children who arrive in Ireland.

HIQA is authorised by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth under Section 69 of the Child Care Act 1991, as amended by Section 26 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, to inspect foster care services provided by Tusla and to report on its findings to the Minister. HIQA is also authorised under Section 8(1)(c) of the Health Act 2007 to monitor the quality of services to protect children and promote their welfare. HIQA monitors Tusla’s performance against national standards. 

HIQA conducted two announced inspections into this service from the 14 to 16 November and 21 to 23 November 2023. 

The first was a follow-up inspection of the child protection and welfare service for children seeking international protection. This inspection focused on the effectiveness of Tusla’s governance of the service and the quality and safety of the child protection and welfare services that unaccompanied children received. It also looked at the progress Tusla had made in relation to the compliance plan it had committed to following the previous inspection of the service in February 2023. 

Of the eight child protection and welfare standards that were assessed one was found to be substantially compliant while the other seven were not compliant. 

Overall, inspectors found that the child protection service was now better supported due to a fundamental shift in how it was being delivered since the previous HIQA inspection in February 2023. Although Tusla had completed some actions in line with the time frames in its compliance plan, it had extended the time frames for other actions to be implemented. 

This follow-up inspection found repeated concerns over high caseloads, with staff under considerable pressure in terms of their capacity to meet the needs of an ever-increasing referral rate of vulnerable children. The core issue of the unmanageable workloads of staff had not been addressed. Staff and managers at all levels continued not to be sufficiently supported in what was a crisis-led service environment.

The service was at the initial stages of developing good governance arrangements; however, further reforms were needed to ensure that the right systems were in place to deliver a safe and effective service. Tusla had taken steps to address some of the most urgent issues facing the service. These included prioritising applications for care orders for children in voluntary care through the courts. The strategic direction of the service was clearer, with actions identified in the service improvement plan to develop a consistent and effective service. However, additional investment in resources, human resources, and IT systems from Tusla had not materialised quickly enough, leading to continued widespread service delays.

The second inspection focused on the management of the foster care service. This was the first time that the foster care service provided by Tusla for Separated Children Seeking International Protection had been inspected. This service is provided to individual children through an allocated social worker, and involves care planning for children, and safeguarding and child protection. The inspection also included the assessment, support, supervision and training of general foster carers. 

Of the eight foster care standards that were assessed, three were found to be substantially compliant and five standards were not compliant.

HIQA found serious concerns about the capacity and sustainability of the fostering arrangements and the impact this was having on children. Although the foster care service was staffed by committed, hard-working and child-centred teams, they struggled to provide basic services to children in foster care. The service was experiencing severe resourcing challenges.

Children in foster care were not all allocated to a social worker and were not being visited in line with the regulations. Reviews of care plans were not conducted in line with the time frames set out in the regulations and the process for the review of children’s care plans required greater oversight by managers. Practice in relation to safeguarding and child protection required improvement. Fostering assessments were comprehensive. All foster carers had an allocated link worker and they felt supported. 

While HIQA recognises that the impact of changes to service provision would need time to take shape, the slow rate of progress was concerning. The governance of the Separated Children Seeking International Protection service continued to be a work in progress and required support, resources and steering from Tusla national office to organise and implement an effective governance structure.

Following the inspection, management submitted a compliance plan to address issues identified during the inspection. Some actions in the compliance plan were deemed to be unsatisfactory and did not adequately assure HIQA that the service would come into compliance with the standards. 

The inspection reports and compliance plans can be found at www.hiqa.ie.