The Health Information and Quality Authority has announced details of its new inspection regime aimed at radically strengthening and improving Ireland’s child protection and welfare services.

For the first time in Ireland the State’s children and families services will be subject to independent inspection and monitoring.

Phelim Quinn, Director of Regulation with HIQA, said: “The commencement by the Authority of the monitoring and inspecting of children and family services is a significant milestone in putting safer and more reliable child protection and welfare systems in place for vulnerable and at-risk children.”

“All children have a right to be safe and to have access to appropriate services and support to enable their growth and development. The needs of children have not been a priority in how the child protection and welfare service responds to concerns on the welfare of vulnerable children.”

The Authority’s monitoring programme has been developed to ensure that the State is protecting the most vulnerable children in society. In order to drive improvements in the quality and safety of child protection and welfare services, the Authority will:

• Assess if the HSE Children and Family Services has all the elements in place to safeguard children and young people.
• Establish if failure to have these elements in place poses a serious risk to the children receiving these services.
• Identify and report on areas of good practice which protect children and promote their welfare, whilst respecting and upholding their rights.
• Seek assurances from the HSE that they are safeguarding children through the mitigation of serious risks.
• Inform the public and promote confidence through the publication of the Authority’s findings.

“It is clear that the needs of vulnerable children have not always been responded to in an appropriate and timely way, and the scale and seriousness of documented child abuse and neglect in Ireland has highlighted this in several reports. Those providing services need to learn from the past and take steps to ensure that all services work effectively and safely to deliver better care and support for vulnerable children,” Phelim Quinn said.

“HIQA as the independent regulator is committed to promoting improvements in the safety and wellbeing of children as the top priority for those working in child protection and welfare services. We have begun our inspection regime, with one inspection already completed and further inspections are in train.”

These inspections will initially involve announced inspections of HSE local health areas, with each area being inspected at least once every three years. Announced inspections will enable the Authority’s inspectors meet with children, their families and carers and hear first-hand their experiences of the services they are receiving. Unannounced inspections will also be introduced and will involve HIQA inspectors arriving into HSE local health areas to assess how the service is coping with the needs of vulnerable children.

“HIQA is inspecting HSE Children and Family Services to measure its compliance with, and encourage improvement in line with the National Standards for the Protection and Welfare of Children. The Authority is also assessing how the service undertakes its statutory function and its implementation of Children First guidance on the protection and welfare of children, and we will report on our findings publicly.”

The purpose of the National Standards is to provide a framework for service providers to prevent or minimise the risk of harm to children and their families and to drive improvements in the safety and quality of their lives.

“This new inspection regime is about having standards and regulations that safeguard and protect children, to keep them safe, well cared for and supported to live with their families where possible. Services should ensure that all children get the best opportunities to live the fullest lives they can,” Phelim Quinn said.

The first child protection and welfare inspection report from HIQA will be published and available to download from www.hiqa.ie in the coming weeks.

Further Information: 

Marty Whelan, Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement, Health Information and Quality Authority, 01 814 7481 / 086 244 7623, mwhelan@hiqa.ie

Notes to the Editor: 

• Child protection is the process of protecting individual children identified as suffering, or likely to suffer from, significant harm as a result of abuse or neglect.
• HIQA is authorised under the Health Act 2007 to monitor the HSE’s compliance with the National Standards for the Protection and Welfare of Children.
• The National Standards for the Protection and Welfare of Children assess the wider performance of the HSEChildren and Family Services or successor agency, as a service provider, in relation to its statutory functions to provide adequate care and protection to children, under Section 3 of the Child Care Act, 1991 and its statutory duties under Children First. The Standards will also guide the HSE’s or successor agency’s response to child protection and welfare concerns and how these concerns are managed.
• HIQA set up a Standards Advisory Group in 2011 to advise it on the development of the Standards. The Standards Advisory Group was a group of key experts and representatives from the HSE, Department of Children and Youth Affairs, Department of Education and Skills, the Irish Youth Justice Service, An Garda Síochána, other regulatory bodies, and people from the academic and legal fields, non-statutory organisations providing services to children, and others involved in or with an interest in children’s and child protection services.
• The National Standards were approved by the Board of HIQA and by the Minister for Health and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in 2012.
• More information is also available from the HIQA page on Facebook and Twitter. To receive HIQA SMS news alerts to your mobile phone text “HIQA” to 51444