Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2017
51. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which adequate support staff remain available to children or families deemed at risk arising from clinical determinations; if a sufficient number of appropriately trained staff are likely to become available in the future in line with anticipated requirements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31212/17]
View answerTusla has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of domestic, sexual and gender based violence whether in the context of the family or otherwise. At all times, Tusla’s key priority is to ensure that the needs of victims of domestic and sexual violence are being met in the best way possible. A network of 60 organisations provide services to victims of domestic, sexual and gender based violence in Ireland, including 20 services providing emergency refuge accommodation to women and children and 24 community-based domestic violence services.
Tusla employs approximately 3,637 whole time equivalent (WTE) staff and the vast majority of these are focused on responding to the needs of children and families at risk. I wish to assure the Deputy that with the current available staff, all urgent and emergency cases, such as in situations of abandonment, allegations of physical and sexual abuse, parental ill-health and the need to find an immediate placement, or a threat to the safety or life of a child by a third party, are dealt with immediately.
I am aware also that to ensure Tusla staff are able to support children and families, it is the organisation's policy to ensure that all staff are trained in child protection and Children First guidelines and staff attend a broad range of child protection training including:
- Core Court Room Skills
- Introduction to Court Skills
- Domestic Sexual & Gender Based Violence (DSGBV) – Awareness and Response
- Practice Development for Newly Appointment Social workers
- Supervision - Making the most of Supervision for Supervisees
- Supervision - Staff Supervision Skills Training for Supervisors
- Foundations for Assessment
- Evidence Informed Practitioner Programme
- Legal Briefing Seminar
I am very mindful of the correlation between recruitment and cases where a child does not have a dedicated social worker and the need for Tusla to closely link its recruitment programme with operational decisions to effect improvements. As part of my regular engagement with the Tusla Board, I have requested that the Agency provides me with an assessment of recruitment for the remainder of 2017, linked to specific targets to reduce the number of children awaiting allocation of a dedicated social worker. I have requested that Tusla develop a robust workforce plan which addresses succession planning, retention, career pathways, training and development, future workforce needs, priority gaps and a strategy for tackling the priority gaps and reducing unallocated cases.
Tusla’s 2017 recruitment target is 369 additional staff across its grades. Tusla’s social work target for the end of 2017 is 1,520 whole time equivalent and Tusla appears to be on track to meet this target. However, it is unlikely that 1,520 WTE social workers will be sufficient to execute Tusla’s current and future responsibilities without changes to the composition of Tusla social work teams. Accordingly, Tusla is evaluating management and staff skills mix with a view to service enhancement, including reviewing the roles of family support workers; social care workers in the community; and administrative structures to support the delivery of more efficient and cost effective services. Part of the evaluation also includes looking at enhanced job roles, increasing multidisciplinary team-working in an effort to alleviate pressure; redesigning tasks; and promoting greater efficiency in working.
Tusla has also appointed a dedicated Workforce Planner to work closely with Tusla services / operations with a view to identifying the areas’ required resource mix reflecting the on-going challenge of recruiting social workers and the potential for more social care workers and family support workers.
Consideration is being given to the current and future issues with social worker supply in Ireland, and the challenges this poses for Tusla, and discussions are ongoing between my Department and the Higher Education Authority to examine how this might be addressed.
I am confident that the Exchequer funding of €713m in 2017 will provide Tusla with significantly increased capacity to respond to areas of identified risk and anticipated demand and to progress a number of key service developments which will ensure better outcomes for vulnerable children, and families, who need our services and support.
