Children’s services publication statement 26 November 2021

Date of publication:

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published an inspection report on a children’s residential centre.

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 children’s residential care services provided by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla). HIQA monitors Tusla’s performance against the National Standards for Children’s Residential Centres and reports on its findings to the Minister.

An announced follow-up inspection of a statutory children’s centre in the South region was carried out on 21 September 2021. This inspection assessed the progress made in relation to the actions identified to address non-compliances during the previous inspection in March 2021, where the centre was found to be non-compliant with four of the five standards assessed and substantially compliant with one standard.

The follow-up inspection found that the quality of care and support provided to the young people continued to be good and that staff were child centred in their interactions with the young people. While managers and staff demonstrated a good level of commitment to the care of the young people, the cumulative effect on the centre’s capacity to plan for and provide individual support consistently on a day-to-day basis was constrained by significant workforce absences. Furthermore, a model of care was not fully implemented and there was insufficient evidence of follow up to ensure accountability for practice.

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