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Dying man refused access to grandchildren over 'unfounded' abuse allegation

A new report from the Ombudsman highlighted case studies where Tusla failed to adequately investigate abuse allegations.

A MAN WHO had to wait five years to have his name cleared of “unfounded” abuse allegations was denied access to see his grandchildren, even though he was dying.

It wasn’t until after the man had died that his name was exonerated, but he was afforded the chance to see his grandchildren before he passed away.

The case is just one of those detailed in Taking Stock, a report published yesterday by the Ombudsman on how Tusla handles allegations of abuse against adults. The investigation found long delays were characteristic of such examinations, and this case is one such example.

“It took several interventions”

Referred to in the report as Mr Lynch, it details how he and his wife initially had supervised access to their grandchildren who were in long-term foster care.

The Lynch family also had two teenage children living with them when an allegation was made (by the mother of the grandchildren) of historic abuse against Mr Lynch.

This access to the grandchildren was subsequently put on hold by the HSE (and then Tusla) on the foot of these allegations.

The gardaí were called in to investigate the claims and, after a file was sent to the DPP, it was determined that there was “insufficient evidence” to proceed with a criminal case.

Despite this, the HSE said it would be conducting an “internal investigation” into the claims. Two years after the original allegations were made, the HSE wrote to Lynch and told him that the claims were considered “inconclusive”.

At this time, however, no credibility assessment of the allegations had been undertaken by social workers and no risk assessment had been made in regard to Lynch’s teenage children living at home.

In other words, the allegation meant that Lynch couldn’t see his grandchildren, but still had his own children living at home.

When the responsibility for child protection services was transferred to Tusla, it was then that the Ombudsman became involved.

Tusla agreed to perform an independent assessment of risk but, due to Lynch’s failing health, he was unable to do the assessment.

“This was a very difficult case,” Ombudsman Peter Tyndall said at the launch of the report yesterday.

At this stage, years had passed and his health was failing. He was very ill and wanted to see his grandchildren. It took several interventions from this office to make it happen.

After the Ombudsman became involved, Lynch was eventually granted access to see his grandchildren.

He died some months later. At the time of his death, he had not been exonerated from this allegation.

More than five years after the original complaint was made, Tusla then acknowledged that the allegation was “unfounded”.

So what happened?

Tyndall identified that a key part of the long delay in getting this abuse allegation properly looked at and handled was the allocation of social workers to the case.

He said: “Part of the reason for all of this is Tusla did not have a sufficient level of social workers to meet demand.

There was a turnover of social workers on this case, and each time there was a handover… [it] leads to inconsistency and delay.

The Ombudsman called it a “classic example” of what happens when there are insufficient IT systems in place.

“This man died without his name being cleared,” Tyndall said. “It can be complicated and time-consuming to reach a conclusion in these cases.

But there were delays – it wasn’t pursued with sufficient urgency.

The Ombudsman said that, in highlighting cases such as this, it was important to see whether the delays here are simply a “once-off” or indicative of more systemic issues within Tusla.

In this regard, its audit of Tusla found:

  • Long delays in the allocation of cases involving allegations of abuse to social workers.
  • Long delays in contacting people who made allegations.
  • Long delays before interviews commenced with the person subject to an allegation of abuse and in concluding assessments.
  • Significant delays in responding to complainants.

In response to the “significant challenges” it faces in investigating allegations of abuse detailed in the report, Tusla said: “Tusla must delicately balance constitutional rights… Tusla must ensure that none of these rights is breached, while at all times remaining fair, impartial and objective.

The current legal framework with respect to managing allegations is inadequate and not equipped to meet both the needs of children and protect the rights of individuals against whom allegations have been made.

Anonymous allegations

In another case highlighted in the Ombudsman’s report, a man – referred to as Mr Smith – had complained about the way the social work department had handled an anonymous allegation made against him.

“This was a gentleman who worked with children,” Tyndall said. “An anonymous allegation was made to gardaí who notified Tusla. It took an awful long time to solve this case.”

When the case was referred by gardaí to social workers, details about the name and phone number of the alleged victim were not provided to Tusla.

“This meant that social workers had no means of contacting the alleged victim to conduct a credibility assessment before meeting with Mr Smith,” the report said.

Furthermore, in the report on the allegation “even the most basic information was lacking”. There was no information on where or when the alleged incident occurred.

It had been alleged that Smith had acted aggressively towards another adult in the presence of a child. Although this allegation was withdrawn, social workers still decided to interview Smith to inform him of the allegation and seek his response.

Six months after Tusla was told about the allegation, social workers sent a letter to Smith, stating that they wished to meet him regarding an alleged incident involving himself and another person.

“This letter caused Mr Smith considerable distress,” the report said. Tyndall expanded on this yesterday and said the man thought he was at risk of losing his job over this. Smith had to ring Tusla to find out more information about what was being claimed before the meeting.

In the wake of the meeting, social workers asked gardaí for contact details of the person who had made the complaint and, two months later, were provided with this information. A phone number, but not a name, was provided by the gardaí, however.

A month later, Smith was told the allegation was “unfounded”. The report said:

The social workers explained to Mr Smith that the assessment had taken longer than expected, as the alleged victim did not make contact with them. Mr Smith was understandably highly concerned about his garda vetting status, as this could have a major impact on his employment… Mr Smith’s life and livelihood was put on hold during this period of time due to the uncertainty about his garda vetting.

Instead of referring Smith to the garda vetting bureau, a social worker gave “information that was misleading”. After another two months he was told his vetting would not be affected because the allegation was “unfounded”. Smith was issued with a written apology by Tusla afterwards.

Tyndall added that, while it is Tusla’s job to safeguard children, it is for the gardaí to bring prosecutions.

Redress

At the close of yesterday’s press conference, a reporter asked Tusla’s director of quality assurance Brian Lee what redress was offered to Lynch’s family.

The question was not answered directly, and so it was asked a second time.

“A written apology and appropriate redress,” Lee said.

Read: ‘We need consistency’: Long delays by Tusla in dealing with abuse allegations, report says

Read: Foster carers ‘felt disrespected’ by social workers, report finds

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27 Comments
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    Mute Mark DeFriest
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    Jul 19th 2017, 12:15 AM

    Imagine being caught between the HSE and Tusla.
    Tusla concoct false allegations through clerical error then engage in long drawn out procedure before removing them while the HSE compound the problem further by insisting on internal reviews into false allegations while simultaneously failing to remove vulnerable children from foster homes when the evidence to support such claims are stacked to the ceiling.
    An impossible country run by unaccountable white collar mandarins people by subservient plebs.

    401
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    Mute Mark DeFriest
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    Jul 19th 2017, 12:16 AM

    ‘peopled’

    33
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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Jul 19th 2017, 7:55 AM

    @Mark DeFriest: I don’t think clerical error was the issue here, rather vindictive accusers who, I hope, will be brought to justice

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    Mute Scorpionvenomm
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    Jul 19th 2017, 8:02 AM

    @Martin Byrne: may they burn in hell if there is one

    20
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    Mute James Browne
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    Jul 19th 2017, 9:51 PM

    @Martin Byrne: Thats the problem though Martin, the people who make allegations are not held to account in any way whatsoever in fact they are free to make more allegations if they so wish.

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    Mute Ger Healy
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    Jul 19th 2017, 2:28 AM

    Exploited care workers, vindictive persecution of whistleblowets, an inept and useless health service and now this.
    All this while our politicians are clapping themselves on the back convincing themselves that they are doing an exceptional job running this country.
    We can only aspire to come up to the standards of even a third world banana republic.

    194
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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Jul 19th 2017, 7:57 AM

    @Ger Healy: really? We are a pretty good little country, we have our problems and we should work to solve them, but implying constantly that we are the worst place ever in the history of humanity isn’t helping anyone, and it’s very clearly not true.

    39
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    Mute Ger Healy
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    Jul 19th 2017, 8:25 AM

    @Martin Byrne: I forgot to add homelessness, evictions, rich bond holders given back their bet money, and the corrupt and disconnected politicians.
    I too, used to think we were a great country, not any more. I’m more ashamed of it now.

    53
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    Mute Seamus Scott
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    Jul 19th 2017, 6:58 AM

    There are quite a lot of these cases currently out there and unfortunately there will be more. One thing that needs to be brought in is some sort of penalty for the person who makes these false accusations . These people ruin lives . And of course the system of investigation needs to be run much more professionally. The amount of people involved in these cases and costs is massive , no wonder the HSE budget costs so much .

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    Mute Conor Kirwan
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    Jul 19th 2017, 6:54 AM

    Ah, the daily ba11s-up from Tusla! In the next story, Noirin O’Sullivan and her daily fail!

    77
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    Mute Jimmy Dunphy
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    Jul 19th 2017, 7:25 AM

    Surely the Mother of the grand children should be blamed for all of this !!!!

    67
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    Mute gerry fallon
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    Jul 19th 2017, 3:24 AM

    Who are these heartless narrow minded ghouls running Tulsa.How many lives and families have been destroyed by these creeps?

    161
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    Mute Red hurley
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    Jul 19th 2017, 7:28 AM

    @gerry fallon: is it ghouls or gowls?

    19
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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Jul 19th 2017, 7:29 AM

    Serious allegations need to be investigated quickly, effectively and efficiently. But since child abuse is a crime, why is it not An Garda Siochana, a dedicated and expert unit with adequate resources, which is charged with such investigations?

    35
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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Jul 19th 2017, 8:09 AM

    @Tony Daly: I don’t think Gardai investigate crime……..that’s why we have so many tribunals. Seriously tough when you read about the poor woman who’s case was left on a shelf for eleven years and even then nobody wants to investigate it and yet this false report goes on for five years you have to wonder wtf is going on.

    37
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    Mute Mick Murphy
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    Jul 19th 2017, 9:06 AM

    @Mary Murphy: Mary, the Gardai do indeed investigate alleged sexual crimes and are obliged to do so in a timely and complete fashion (doesn’t always happen. I’m not naive) but that isn’t the problem here. The HSE and Tusla are totally separate organisations working from a totally different point of view. The Gardai try to accumulate enough evidence to present a file to the DPP to secure a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. The others are supposed to be ensuring the safety and well being of the children. So while the Gardai may have cleared him in 6 months it doesn’t stop the others continuing. I feel terrible for this poor man going to his grave with even a nagging doubt his legacy was tarnished. Maybe even sped his demise, who knows?

    24
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    Mute Turlough O' Connor
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    Jul 19th 2017, 1:06 AM

    Pity Tuzla weren’t as fastidious in the Grace (and no doubt many other cases)…. bunch of incompetent wasters…

    159
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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Jul 19th 2017, 8:05 AM

    @Turlough O’ Connor: Exactly. They are stunning when the evidence is not there and stunning when it is. Stunningly incompetent

    47
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    Mute John Scott
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    Jul 19th 2017, 8:48 AM

    What happens to the Social Workers who appear to make a lot of wrong decisions. Are they moved to some other area to do more damage or promoted . Do we know? If you are being dealt with by one of these who made wrong decisions before I wood be very concerned.

    26
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    Mute 50 Pence
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    Jul 19th 2017, 7:46 AM

    This will only get worse. Liberals believe in “guilty until proven innocent” in cases of alleged abuse.

    36
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    Mute Brendan Keegan
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    Jul 19th 2017, 9:48 AM

    @50 Pence: and what about the innocent.. The lying bitch that made these false statements should get ten years. This poor guy would have been hung years ago so maybe the what you call “liberals”have it more right. Try getting up yo the full euro you get nothing now for 50 cents.

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    Mute Seán O'Keeffe
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    Jul 19th 2017, 3:38 AM

    No. No. Let the self appointed good make the calls. Let’s see how that pans out.

    24
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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Jul 19th 2017, 2:27 AM

    Now that is evil…

    60
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    Mute aoife✨
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    Jul 19th 2017, 7:38 AM

    There’s a special place in hell for those who would willingly make a false allegation of this nature against someone ! It’s the worst thing you could possibly accuse someone of.

    57
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    Mute Shawn O'Ceallaghan
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    Jul 19th 2017, 7:47 AM

    So its not the states fault. Its the mothers?

    15
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    Mute Damian Gavin
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    Jul 19th 2017, 9:46 AM

    I wonder when our esteemed government set up this quango (tusla) did they really believe that it would run more efficiently than the rest of the public sector? Too many idiots in too many big jobs. All members of a public service union that want more and more

    21
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    Mute Pádraig Ó Tomhnair
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    Jul 19th 2017, 9:37 PM

    I could have told them all this, without a review, or anything like that. When Social Workers moved over to the new Agency, nothing was changed, to justify it, just like when all the Health Boards because “The Health Service Executive”. What ” the System” was designed to do is not what it’s actually doing. Look at the various cases that we already know about; “Grace”, in the South – East, the Case a few months back where the Foster Parents had to fight the Social Workers to prevent the Children going back to Parents that were neglecting them. There needs to be a separation of complaints out of “genuine concern”, and those that are “vindictive”, or “malicious”. The latter needs to be dealt with, in the same way that people that abuse are dealt with, or are supposed to be dealt with.

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