Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 December 2020
251. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps he has taken to address the high number of children in counties Carlow and Kilkenny without an allocated social worker; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40792/20]
View answerThank you Deputy for your question on the allocation of Social Workers to children awaiting a child protection assessment or where their social worker is no longer available to them.
In 2019, Tusla identified Carlow/Kilkenny/South Tipperary as one of Tulsa’s five areas needing rapid improvement. The area reduced its unallocated cases from 304 cases in January of this year to 205 cases in October indicating that progress is being made.
The Area has put in place safeguarding arrangements in relation to cases which are unallocated. These include:
- The waiting list is audited by management every eight weeks.
- New information that leads to a change in the risk rating of a case is followed up immediately.
- Where social workers are not available, social care workers may be allocated to the case.
- Appointment of a new post of Team Leader with responsibility for the unallocated cases.
In an emergency, or where a child is found to be at immediate risk, an immediate response is received. All children, including those on the Child Protection Notification System, who are deemed to be at risk of significant harm have an allocated social worker.
Cases that are not yet allocated a social worker are overseen by duty social work teams who re-prioritise cases as new information comes to light, and may have a social care worker allocated to work directly with the child while awaiting an assessment.
My Department is engaging with social work educators to increase the number of social work graduates as demand for this complex and challenging work increases.
The Carlow/Kilkenny/South Tipperary Area filled 13 social work posts in 2020 to date and is planning bespoke campaigns later this year and in 2021. Tusla is endeavouring to reduce the number of children without a social worker using all the resources available to support children in the community
