Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2020
589. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration the oversight his Department has in place to ensure that failures by Tusla (details supplied) to carry out its obligations will not be repeated; the reason for the failures; if he is satisfied that the measures now in place are adequate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25229/20]
View answerThank you deputy for highlighting this important matter.
The Irish Times recently reported that the Kerry area of Tusla the Child and Family Agency had under reported referrals of suspected physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect to An Garda Siochana.
This underreporting was identified by the Kerry area manager, who shared the finding with HIQA inspectors. The inspectors were satisfied with the proposed actions to address the issue.
In April 2020, Tusla completed an audit of all referrals received in the Kerry area (in Q4 2019) categorised as 'abuse'. The findings identified a concern about the rate of notifications to An Garda Síochána.
To ensure this was not a national issue, Tusla undertook an audit of Garda notifications in all service areas (excluding Kerry as it was already undergoing audit), which was completed in July 2020. The audit found that while under-reporting of suspected abuse was not “a major systemic issue” there had been some variance as to the timing for a social worker to determine what constituted ‘a suspicion’ of abuse. Some Tusla areas had been undertaking further information gathering prior to sending the referral to the Gardaí.
National guidance for child protection, Children First, states if Tusla suspects abuse has occurred it will "formally notify the Gardaí without delay." This guidance was not fully adhered to in the Kerry area. To improve practice, the Kerry area has been restructured into five teams and additional staff have been appointed, which includes a Principal Social Worker and a Social Work Team Leader. Management have been working directly with social work staff to address the identified inconsistencies in notifications of suspected abuse to Gardaí.
Tusla has re-issued its internal guidance on the timing and threshold for notifying the Gardai of a suspicion of child abuse and neglect.
I am greatly disappointed that this situation developed. Through a combination of suitable management oversight within Tusla, performance monitoring and HIQA inspections the issue was identified and is being appropriately addressed. This is an example of Tusla identifying an internal issue, taking appropriate action and learning from it.
