The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published an inspection report on the Child and Family Agency’s (Tusla’s) foster care services in the Cavan Monaghan service area. 

HIQA is authorised by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth under Section 69 of the Child Care Act, 1991, as amended by Section 26 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, to inspect foster care services provided by Tusla and to report on its findings to the Minister, and to inspect services taking care of a child on behalf of Tusla, including non-statutory providers of foster care. HIQA monitors foster care services against the 2003 National Standards for Foster Care.

HIQA conducted a thematic inspection of the foster care service in Cavan Monaghan in November 2021. These thematic inspections are primarily focused on assessing the efficacy of governance arrangements across foster care services and the impact these arrangements have for children in receipt of foster care. This thematic programme is the third and final phase of a three-phased schedule of inspection programmes monitoring foster care services.

Of the eight standards assessed, three were moderate non-compliant and five were substantially compliant.  

There were management systems in place to assure the area manager that the service provided, for the most part, was safe, consistent and appropriate to children’s needs. Staff and external professionals reported that there was strong leadership and a continuous drive for improvement and innovation, which underpinned the work of front-line managers and their teams. Staff were experienced and competent and had the required qualifications, skills and knowledge to efficiently perform their duties. However, improvements were required in the management and oversight of allegations made by children in care. The area manager outlined that staff retention was good, that a stable workforce was in place and that staff turnover was low. However, due to ongoing staff absences, there were insufficient staff at the time of this inspection. The management team was actively working to resolve the staffing challenges in the area. 

Despite significant efforts being made by the service at a local level, the recruitment of foster carers in the area continued to be a significant risk for the service. The low number of assessments completed for new foster carers had been identified as an issue, as only two assessments were completed by the Regional Assessment Fostering Team in the previous 12 months, with a further two assessments nearing completion at the time of the inspection. 

Despite this, children in care, their families and foster carers were supported by an experienced and qualified team, and the service continued to review practices in relation to the recruitment and retention of foster carers. 

This inspection report can be found at the link below.