Children who are with their families in emergency homeless accommodation are in the care of their parents or guardians, who have the primary responsibility for their protection. Homelessness as part of a family group is not, of itself, a basis for making a report to Tusla. Some children who are homeless as part of a family group may be referred to Tusla due to other child protection or welfare concerns that may impact them.
Tusla assesses child protection concerns and also concerns about the welfare of children. Families in homelessness and other challenging circumstances may benefit from the Partnership, Prevention and Family Support Service within Tusla. Other families may be engaged in the Meitheal process, in which a network of supports is developed for the child and family. Schools, youth clubs and other community based organisations participate in Meitheals.
While the role of parents is to protect their children, society also has a duty to promote the welfare and safety of children. The Children First Act 2015, which was fully commenced in December 2017, provides for a number of key child protection measures, including raising awareness of child abuse and neglect, providing for mandated reporting of child protection concerns and improving child protection arrangements in organisations providing services to children.Under the Act, mandated persons are required to report child protection concerns at or above a defined threshold to Tusla. The Act defines harm as assault, ill-treatment, neglect or sexual abuse, and covers single and multiple instances. Mandated persons are people who have contact with children and/or families and who, because of their qualifications, training and/or employment role, are in a key position to help protect children from harm. The list of mandated persons is set out in Schedule 2 of the Children first Act and it includes teachers, health care professionals and persons employed as managers of homeless provision or emergency accommodation facilities. The Act operates side-by-side with the non-statutory obligations provided for in Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children 2017. The guidance sets out how reports about reasonable concerns of child abuse or neglect should be made by the general public and professionals to Tusla and what organisations need to do to keep children safe. These guidelines have been in place since 1999 and were fully revised and published in October 2017 to include reference to provisions of the Children first Act.
