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 and Youth Affairs 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 for Children and Youth Affairs.

An unannounced inspection of a statutory children’s residential centre in the Tusla Dublin North East region between 9 and 10 July 2020. The findings of this inspection were positive and there was good levels of compliance with the National Standards.

This inspection found that children received good quality safe care in the centre, and they said that they liked being there. They especially liked the activities they were involved in and said that the house was warm and ‘cosy’. Children’s views and interests were valued and promoted by centre staff and the staff team were creative in the ways they cared for children.

Many of the staff team and managers had worked in the centre for a long period of time and this brought about a stable and nurturing environment for children, within which positive and meaningful professional working relationships were formed. Children benefited from this level of stability and consistency of care.

There was good collaborative working between the centre, parents and professionals involved in each child’s care. This impacted positively on the care and placement planning for children. However, some care plans required review, as they were based on the care arrangements for their substantive placement, without detailing specific goals and aims for the respite centre.

The centre was well managed, and the managerial systems in place ensured that there was continuous learning and improvement within the centre.