The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published two inspection reports on children’s residential centres.

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. 

Announced inspections of two statutory children’s residential centres in the Tusla South and Dublin Mid-Leinster regions were carried out between 24 and 25 February 2021. One centre was found to be compliant with each of the six national standards assessed and the other centre required improvement in relation to one standard.

Both centres were well run and managed. The staff teams were experienced and qualified, and children had positive experiences of their care in these centres as a result.  

Children who spoke with inspectors were positive about their care and said that they were safe, consulted with, and encouraged to participate in decision-making processes. It was evident that staff ensured children were occupied during COVID-19 restrictions. However, some children felt the impact of not being able to visit their friends during this time.

This inspection assessed the safety of staff recruitment processes, and the quality of staff supports. Supervision and support of staff members was good and levels of accountability were high. While safe recruitment processes were in place, staff records were not held centrally for one centre and this needed to improve.

The inspection report and compliance plan can be found on www.hiqa.ie