Children’s services publication statement

Date of publication:

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published an inspection report on the child protection and welfare and foster care service operated by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) in the Dublin South West Kildare West Wicklow service area.

HIQA is authorised by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth under Section 8(1)(c) of the Health Act 2007 to monitor the quality of services provided by Tusla to protect children and promote their welfare. HIQA monitors Tusla’s performance against national standards and advises the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and Tusla.

HIQA conducted a risk-based inspection of the Dublin South West Kildare West Wicklow service area over four days in September 2021. This inspection focused on reviewing the non-compliances identified during the previous inspection of the service area in December 2020.

The service was found to be substantially compliant under the one standard that was inspected against the National Standards for Foster Care. Seven standards under the National Standards for the Protection and Welfare of Children were inspected; one was substantially compliant, five were found to be non-compliant moderate and one was non-compliant major.

Significant improvements were found in relation to the governance of the fostering and aftercare service. The timeliness and oversight of assessments of relative foster carers had improved. There was improved oversight of An Garda Síochána (police) vetting of foster carers and those living in foster care households, but further improvements were still required. The service had also made good progress in improving the aftercare service. The quality of aftercare assessments were good and there were plans in progress for further improvements of this service.

While some improvements were evident within the child protection and welfare service, further improvements were required. The service had successfully reduced the number of cases waiting for a child protection and welfare service, and had eliminated high-priority cases from their waiting list. However, children at lower levels of risk continued to experience delays in receiving a service and inspectors sought assurances in relation to the safeguarding arrangements in place for some children. Appropriate assurances were provided by the area manager.

Further work was required in the governance of waiting lists, risk management and quality assurance in order to achieve compliance with the national standards. At the time of inspection, the service had a plan to address the backlog of referrals waiting for a service. The area has submitted a compliance plan to address the issues identified by this inspection.

The inspection report and compliance plan can be found at the link below.