Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 October 2019
53. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the steps taken to rectify the state of understaffing and lack of professional oversight in the social care system for children in County Kilkenny since the recent HIQA report on foster care services in the county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43281/19]
View answerMy question relates to the recent HIQA report on the Carlow, Kilkenny and Tipperary area. What steps has the Minister taken to rectify the state of understaffing and lack of professional oversight in the social care system for children in the areas I have mentioned since the recent HIQA report on foster care services in the area? Will she make a statement on the matter?
I understand the Deputy is referring to the HIQA foster care service inspection for the Carlow, Kilkenny and south Tipperary Tusla region, which was published on 3 October. The inspection was carried out in May this year.
I was very disappointed with the issues raised in the report. To hear the word "chaotic" used to describe the management of this important work was of great concern. While I noted that inspectors found that no child had been harmed, it is clear that significant problems were found, mostly resulting from staff vacancies and a high staff turnover rate. This has led to some children in foster care and their carers having to deal with many changes in their social worker over the years. It was interesting to read that where there was a stable social worker, children were very positive about their relationship.
A total of 92% of children in care were in foster care in a family setting at the end of the second quarter of 2019. This compares well internationally. A recent international comparison, which was carried out by NUI Galway, collected data published between 2015 and 2017. For example, in Wales, Scotland, Norway and Australia, an average of 80% of children were in foster care. The figures were lower again in the USA at 75% and England at 61%.
The area comprising Carlow, Kilkenny and south Tipperary is one of the five Tusla has identified as having significant challenges in providing a consistently good standard of foster care. Staffing levels in these areas is a major contributing factor to the challenges faced. I have asked Tusla to review the reasons for the high turnover of staff, and to identify and examine the contributing factors.
Tusla has developed a workforce strategy, which was approved by its board last spring. It aims to address staffing issues within the agency in the long and short term. The long-term solution is to increase the number of social work graduates and to optimise the mix of skills between social workers and other grades to support them. My Department is working with colleagues across Government and educational bodies to increase numbers of social work graduates. In the short term, Tusla is pursuing a proposal to provide bursaries to social work students to encourage them to work with Tusla.
The Minister has described it as "disappointing". I would go further and say it is totally unacceptable. We have a serious issue in the region with regard to Tusla and its attitude. Part of the reason for the high staff turnover is the very defensive culture in the agency, which does not lend itself to people wanting to work there. On numerous occasions, I have tried to get answers from Tusla but have ended up having to send the correspondence to the Minister to get an answer.
On one occasion, Tusla sent me a letter to say that I had sent correspondence to the wrong address when I have been dealing with the same Tusla office in Kilkenny since before I can remember. That is the sort of attitude one is dealing with and that leads to children not having adequate supports and help. It is shocking. The focus should be on the needs of the child and one in five children in that region is without a social worker. The situation was described as chaotic and there is not much aftercare support. We heard there was extra money for this sector in the budget, so my specific question is how many social workers, aftercare workers and administrative workers will be recruited in this area?
I really note what the Deputy has said about that region and we will take account of it. I have also tried to indicate my own response to that report. An action plan has been drawn up and the overseeing and implementation of that will hopefully address many of the issues the Deputy has identified. I have also talked about the ways in which we are trying to move on the recruitment and retention of additional social workers. I have significantly increased budgets over the past number of years and much of that has been directed to supporting Tusla in doing that kind of recruitment.
I do not have specific answers to the Deputy's questions, although I can get them, but an eight-point plan for this region, along with some others, has been identified. It offers additional ways to monitor and encourage the change that needs to take place in those areas.
I would welcome it if the Minister would specifically look into this region as to why there are such difficulties and so many problems there. Part of the problem is obviously around resources and the need for additional social workers because there are many vacancies but we also must ensure that those social workers stay in the region. We all know that the last thing a vulnerable child needs, one who is already facing changes and different things in his or her life, is to build up a relationship with a social worker only for it to be torn apart. That gives that child the perception that there is nobody there for them and that the State is failing them and, to be honest, the State is failing them in that situation. There will always be situations where staff have to change but not to the level that we are seeing in this area. It really is not good enough. I think of the number of children who are falling through the cracks. It was also stated in the report that many children were only assigned a social worker shortly before the HIQA report commenced, which makes me wonder if they would ever have got a social worker if there had been no HIQA report. This area really needs to be specifically looked at.
Senior management in Tusla is working to improve foster care in the region. As I already indicated, HIQA has expressed satisfaction with the action plan that has been put in place in the area to address the shortcomings identified in the HIQA report. I take note of and acknowledge the Deputy's statement about the inspection and uncovering of the issues. That is why HIQA is there and inspections are carried out. We have Tusla's response in quickly identifying what it needs to do and put in place in order to bring about the changes. My officials have also engaged with Tusla about the specific matters raised in the HIQA report on this area and are monitoring actions and improvements closely. I look forward to seeing the outcome of the implementation of that plan and, as I have indicated, Tusla has put in place additional ways to bring about change in that area and others in order that standards can be raised more quickly, as we all wish to see.
