Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 2 December 2015
104. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of reports of the physical, mental or sexual abuse of children received in each of the past five years to date; if an adequate response has been achieved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43155/15]
View answerTusla, the Child and Family Agency holds the statutory responsibility for child welfare and protection, and is the appropriate body to receive reports of concerns relating to children at risk. Where there are reasonable grounds for concern for a child's welfare and protection, Tusla should always be informed.
As part of governance arrangements, Tusla provides my Department with regular performance activity reports for monitoring purposes. These include figures showing the number of referrals which are disaggregated by welfare concerns and abuse concerns.
Not all referrals will result in a need for a social work service or in a child being received into care and approximately 50% can be expected to proceed from preliminary enquiry to the initial assessment stage. The reasons for this include the duplication of referrals, the child being known to the service and receiving other services such as Meitheal or other Family Support, or that the referral was not appropriate for the agency.
The most recent validated figures for welfare concerns and abuse concerns at the end of first quarter of 2015, showed 4,770 abuse concern referrals and 6,223 welfare concern referrals. Of these referrals, 56% of abuse concerns and 44% of welfare concerns went forward to the initial assessment stage. The referrals of a child abuse concern were reported as: Physical (22%), Emotional (37%), Sexual (15%) and Neglect (26%).
The data collected by Tusla on referrals is collated, validated and published quarterly in arrears. The Deputy has requested data on the past five years and the table shows the total number of Child Protection referrals for the past four years and the latest figures for 2015 broken down by abuse category where available.
|
No. of Child Protection Referrals |
2015 Q1 |
2014 Outturn |
2013 Outturn |
2012 Outturn |
2011 Outturn |
2010 Outturn |
|
Physical |
1,038 |
4,066 |
4,330 |
No Breakdown Available |
3,033 |
2,608 |
|
Emotional |
1,743 |
6,233 |
5,217 |
No Breakdown Available |
4,001 |
2,500 |
|
Sexual |
729 |
3,114 |
3,385 |
No Breakdown Available |
3,326 |
2,962 |
|
Neglect |
1,260 |
5,263 |
6,421 |
No Breakdown Available |
5,458 |
4,755 |
|
Total Referrals |
4,770 |
18,676 |
19,353 |
19,044 |
15,818 |
12,825 |
It is difficult to say if a satisfactory resolution, from a child's point of view has been achieved in all instances, however, it is important to note that children are consulted, in as far as possible, in relation to decisions that affect them.
