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Children need 24/7 cover

Dara Gantly writes about concerns over the welfare of at-risk children outside office hours, despite a new foster service planned by the HSE

Doctors, the Garda Síochána and Ireland’s leading children’s charity have expressed concern over the out-of-hours care for at-risk children.

Barnardos has given a guarded welcome to a new private foster-placement service planned by the HSE for at-risk children outside of Dublin, but remains concerned over the availability of social workers out of hours.

The Irish Association of Emergency Medicine (IAEM) has also called for action, expressing concern that emergency departments are being used as a ‘catch-all’ for social problems.

Foster agency Five Rivers Ireland has been chosen to run the scheme on behalf of the HSE, which will see ‘emergency places of safety’ in the form of foster families established in ten locations across the State. The move — aimed at reducing social admissions of children to acute hospitals or Garda stations — follows the decision by the Executive last August not to expand its own social-care services outside Dublin due to Government cutbacks.

Barnardos Director of Advocacy Norah Gibbons, who was recently appointed chair of independent investigation into the Roscommon child-protection case, which came to public attention in January, told IMT that the system would be an improvement on what was currently available. However, it should not be seen as the answer to 24/7 cover, she stressed.

“If children need to come into care, it is better that they go to foster parents than being left in either Garda stations or hospitals,” said Gibbons. “What concerns us is whether the Gardaí have to do the social-work task out of hours by responding to the emergency and taking the children to one of these foster families.

The best option

“What we wanted was for the Gardaí to contact a HSE social worker or childcare worker who would do a limited investigation to make sure that coming into care was the best option for the children,” explained Gibbons.

The foster families will be assessed carers, to which gardaí will have access through one national point of contact, pending resumption of social-work service in normal office hours. While the exact cost of the service is not known, the HSE received six offers for the contract, at costs of between E236,000 and E1.22 million.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors also raised concerns over the scheme at its annual conference in Athlone in early April, and the issue of caring for at-risk children was high on the agenda at the recent IMO AGM, where a scientific session was dedicated to child protection.

The IAEM recently called for the HSE to provide 24-hour social-work cover, claiming that emergency departments were being used as a catch-all for social problems that should be handled elsewhere, including at-risk children.

In a position paper, published in March, the Association said it was ‘inappropriate’ that such problems were ‘foisted on already overstretched emergency departments’ because of deficiencies elsewhere in the healthcare system.

First port of call

Association secretary James Binchy of UCHG said there would always be cases where it made sense that an emergency department was the first port of call, but once any medical issues were dealt with, it should be possible to discharge a person into the care of social services. “That’s not happening because the services don’t exist out of hours.”

When approached by IMT, Five Rivers — which is based in Finglas, Dublin — declined to comment on the new service, preferring to pass on all queries to the HSE, which itself would not elaborate on the contract. However, Minister of State at the Department of Health Barry Andrews confirmed in the Oireachtas recently that foster families were currently being recruited, with a view to commencing the service on or before June 1.

With just ten foster families planned across the country, Barnardos is worried over how far children might have to travel. “If there are a limited number of families in Kerry, are the children there going to be taken across the border to Cork or Limerick, and is that a correct use of the Gardaí’s service?” questioned Gibbons.

The move to set up a private-run system of out-of-hours care comes ahead of the publication of the long-awaited report into the Monageer tragedy, which saw the deaths of Adrian and Kiara Dunne and their daughters, Leanne (5) and Shania (3), three days after the family had visited an undertaker to arrange their funerals.
The report by barrister Kate Brosnan, which was completed more than six months ago, is due out shortly and is expected to recommend the introduction of an out-of-hours emergency social-work service to help deal with crisis situations.

The Monageer report

Last month, a spokesperson for the Office of the Minister for Children confirmed to IMT that the Monageer report was still with the Attorney General’s Office for his advice, and no date as yet had been set for its release. While no further explanation was given, it is likely that concerns over possible libel and defamation may be behind the lengthy delay. Media reports last week indicated that its publication was now imminent.

The social services in the south east first came under heavy criticism in 2005 over the tragic death of Sharon Grace and her two young daughters. The 28-year-old woman had tried to meet a social worker shortly before she drowned herself, Mikhala (4) and Abby (3) at Kaat’s Strand in Wexford town.

Following the inquest, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children called for the immediate establishment of a nationwide 24-hour child protection service - an action it recommended again in its current ‘24-Hour Child’ campaign.

Posted in Guests on 01 May 2009
Tags: children