Inexperienced staff, long waitlists and welfare concerns flagged at Dublin Tusla branch

Kenneth Fox

Inexperienced staff, long waitlists and child welfare concerns were some of the issues identified at a Tusla branch in Dublin.

A new report from the Health and Information Quality Authority (HIQA) finds the service to be non-compliant with safety guidelines.

In one instance, a referral of allegation of physical abuse of a child with complex needs was not dealt with appropriately, with Tusla not informing the Gardaí.

In another case, a young child was referred to the service due to a domestic violence concern, however they were not allocated a social worker.

HIQA found that staff were inexperienced and relied on managers. It also found the number of children awaiting a service in Dublin South Central to be "unacceptably high" at 41 per cent.

In 2024, Tusla had submitted a national compliance plan to HIQA which outlined how it would improve services where there were significant numbers of children waiting for a service.

Despite some progress in the reduction of the percentage of children who were not allocated to a social worker and in the recruitment and retention of staff, significant concerns remained about this service’s capacity to fulfil its statutory obligations.

They said overall, the quality and safety of the child protection and welfare service required significant improvement to ensure that it met the needs of all children, in line with the National Standards for Child Protection and Welfare (2012) and Children First: National Guidance for Child Protection and Welfare (2017).

HIQA also brought concerns about the continuous challenges to the capacity of the service to manage referrals and complete assessments in a timely manner, and the ongoing shortcomings in the safeguarding of children.

Appropriate assurances were provided by the chief executive and HIQA said they will continue to monitor the service to support improvements.

They governance systems at all levels did not ensure that all children received a timely and safe service due to the shortfall in resources to meet demands in the area.

While the majority of vacant posts had been filled, there remained an inadequacy of resources allocated to meet the demand for the service resulting in many staff having unmanageable caseloads and a lack of capacity to transfer cases across the teams.

A range of supports were in place to support new staff, such as enhanced induction supports and mentoring programmes, but there remained a significant gap in the level of required skills and experience in the area to deliver effective services to children.

Positively, children who were allocated a social worker received a good quality service and staff were positive about support they received from their managers and demonstrated a commitment to providing a good-quality service that met children’s needs.

Following the inspection, management submitted a satisfactory compliance plan they said.