Child Protection Services Provision

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 March 2019

Tuesday, 26 March 2019

Ceisteanna (1169)

Anne Rabbitte

Ceist:

1169. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of child protection cases awaiting the allocation of a social care worker by priority level and county in tabular form. [13035/19]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

On receipt of referrals, Tusla, Child and Family Agency, allocates child protection cases to social workers. Social care workers primarily work currently in the area of residential care, family support and on children in care teams undertaking direct work with children. I can advise the Deputy that Tusla, collate and report data by Tusla administrative area, rather than by county. The table below lays out the number of cases awaiting allocation by area and priority level.

Table: Number of cases awaiting allocation to a social worker, by priority level and Tusla area

Area	High	Medium	Low	Total	Number of total waiting who are children in care
Dublin South East/Wicklow	22	59	63	144	31
Dublin South West/ Kildare/WestWicklow	218	251	82	551	104
Dublin South Central	0	292	440	732	10
Midlands	109	288	102	499	60
Dublin North City	0	88	76	164	37
Dublin North	10	685	625	1320	19
Louth/Meath	17	319	122	458	28
Cavan/Monaghan	10	71	18	99	14
Kerry	58	52	17	127	0
Cork	196	322	179	697	2
Carlow/Kilkenny/South Tipp	44	359	115	518	107
Waterford/Wexford	94	158	84	336	42
Donegal	100	152	58	310	1
Sligo/Leitrim/West Cavan	1	26	1	28	0
Mayo	0	0	0	0	0
Galway/Roscommon	11	87	78	176	1
Midwest	113	87	73	273	61
Total	1,003	3,296	2,133	6,432	517

Cases that are not yet allocated a social worker are overseen by duty social work teams, and about one fifth of cases may be dealt with as “active on duty” where specific actions by the social work team are taking place, including information gathering and visits to see the child.

All urgent cases are assigned immediately to a social worker.

Annual data on child protection and welfare referrals show significant ongoing increases since 2015. Tusla child protection duty social work teams screen each referral to determine whether if it meets the eligibility criteria for Tusla. After screening a duty social worker carries out a preliminary enquiry, gathering information about the referral, to determine whether the report meets the threshold for harm for child protection. If the preliminary enquiry finds that the family would benefit from a welfare support and that a child protection response is not merited the case could be diverted for a welfare response at this point. The preliminary enquiry also determines the priority status of each case.

A high priority determination is not solely determined by information indicating risk to the child, but may refer also to a child in care for less than a year, in an unstable placement or approaching 18 year.