Homeless factor as 151 referrals a day made to child and family agency
A new Tusla report has said homelessness is a likely factor in the rising number of referrals to the child and family agency, alongside mandatory reporting.
The Annual Review on the Adequacy of Child Care and Family Support Services Available also outlines how the source of referrals to Tusla is not available for 2018 “due to issues with the configuration of the source on NCCIS [Tusla’s national childcare information system], which is being rectified”.
The report shows that in 2018 the number of referrals to Tusla equated to about 151 a day, or 46 for every 1,000 children living in Ireland. As 2018 data was not available, 2017 figures showed that the top three sources of referrals were An Garda Síochána (29%), HSE/Tusla officers (24%), and schools (12%).
While there was a rise in overall referral numbers, 24% of referrals that had a preliminary enquiry required an initial assessment — the lowest percentage for the years 2014-2018.
In 2018, Tusla launched its ‘signs of safety’ approach, using a model developed in Australia, focusing on the strengths and signs of safety that can be built on to stabilise and strengthen the situation of a child and family, in collaboration with the family.
According to the report: “Although difficult to comment at this early stage with any degree of certainty, it is possible that the new approach to practice, with its more detailed and thorough preliminary enquiry process, is resulting in fewer referrals requiring an initial assessment. Referrals are being diverted to other, more appropriate community and family support services, or closed earlier than they would have previously.
“It is also possible that an increasing number of referrals are being diverted to more appropriate community and family support services as they become more developed in the areas.”
On the rise in referrals, the report said: “An increase in referrals is not necessarily good or bad in terms of safety of children. It most likely reflects a combination of socioeconomic and other factors, including the increase in the 0-17 years population over the same period; the increase in the number of families becoming homeless in recent years; a possible increasing awareness of concerns about the safety of children [media attention]; and particularly with the commencement of mandated reporting on the 11th December, 2017.”
In 2018, Tusla received 12,610 mandated reports, accounting for 51% of child protection referrals and 23% of all referrals.
The review of adequacy report is a key document for mapping trends and outlining how Tusla plans to deal with them. For example, it shows 1,029 children were listed as ‘active’ on the Child Protection Notification System at the end of 2018, 38% of them aged five or younger.
Progress could be seen in areas such as the fall in numbers of repeat admissions to care and in the number of children on third or subsequent placements, though Cork reported the highest percentage of children in care in their third or greater placement at 6.1%, more than three times the national rate of 1.9%.
