A major review of foster care services in Ireland has found mixed levels of services, and highlighted significant issues in the MidWest.
The report has been published by HIQA today, as Clare FM’s Gavin Grace reports
HIQA conducted inspections in the 17 foster care service areas in 2017, and followed up on those last year.
In the MidWest, where there are nearly 600 children in foster care, and almost 400 carers, it highlights significant issues.
Services here were found to be majorly non-compliant on a range of standards relating to safeguarding and child protection, support and supervision, and reviews.
In the area of safeguarding, issues emerged with the management of allegations against foster carers, and with Garda vetting, although there had been improvements in this by last year.
However, at that same time, HIQA did identify delays in the assessment and approval of the 107 relative foster carers in this region – a quarter of them had not been assessed, and there was a lack of resources to do so.
The number of foster carers here without a link worker increased last year, to a total of 47 or 12%. In two of these cases, the fostered child also did not have an allocated social worker.
There were inadequate safeguarding measures in place, and foster carers did not receive regular support or formal supervision.
HIQA says it will continue to monitor progress in the Western region through the area action plan, and in particular the major non-compliances in the Mid-West.
Of the foster care service as a whole, it states that lessons learnt in one area aren’t being transferred to another.
While it notes reported staffing shortages within TUSLA, it says it’s essential that practices are reviewed.
