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CHILDREN COULD BE at risk of “immediate harm” because of restrictions on services from Tusla due to Covid-19, according to internal risk reports from the agency.
Tusla’s risk ratings were raised to their maximum levels amid concerns over how services could be provided with limits on home visits, difficulties in providing frontline services, and a lack of foster placements.
A copy of Tusla’s Covid-19 risk register has been released under FOI and paints a stark picture of the challenges facing them during the public health crisis.
The risk register said due to contact restrictions, review postponements, fostering difficulties, and postponed court proceedings – unforeseen disruption of frontline services would result in an “increased risk of harm to children”.
It warned that children were at “risk of immediate harm” if Tusla was no longer in position to provide frontline child protection services.
It also said there was risk of an “impact on welfare and protection of children” due to a reduction in face-to-face meetings, home visits, and access visits.
The risk register also said residential services would also be affected leading to “disruption to the statutory services provided” according to the register.
It said non-essential services – primarily five respite services – would likely have to be closed. Staff would also have to be redeployed leading to a financial requirement for the hiring of outsourced workers.
Tusla also warned of increased risks to people availing of services where they were the victim of domestic, sexual or gender-based violence.
“As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic,” it said, “there may be unforeseen disruption of frontline services resulting in an increased risk to families and children availing of [such] services.”
Accommodation
It said urgent attention was required on providing alternative accommodation “to avoid potential contamination” scenarios.
The register also said access to additional bed capacity was required urgently and other options including the use of Airbnb would have to be looked at.
Three areas of Tusla’s primary work were elevated to an inherent risk rating of 25 points out of 25 on the register with a warning of the potential for “extreme” negative effects.
This could result in undermining of public confidence, the possibility of a public inquiry, a risk to a large number of children, or a “gross failure to meet external standards”.
Separately, a briefing prepared ahead of a meeting with Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone also detailed “issues emerging” as Tusla tried to deal with the Covid-19 fallout.
“Home visiting balanced against health concerns,” was listed as a key challenge while Tusla were also worried referrals would fall, depending on how long restrictions were in place.
For children in care, they were worried about reduced family contact, limited foster place availability, and management of “risk based behaviour”.
In refuges and other services for victims of violence, Tusla said key worries were restrictions in the event of Covid-19 outbreak, the ability for people in trouble to call services, and a loss of fundraising capability.
The agency expected over thirteen weeks, an extra €5 million would be required in addition to its normal budget, according to the records.
Proactively planning
A spokesperson for Tusla said they have been proactively planning for possible scenarios and the continuation of essential services like child protection, children in care, and domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services.
She said: “As with all public service, and private organisations, the current pandemic poses challenges for service delivery and it is prudent to prepare a risk register which is focused on highlighting the worst case scenario so that we can put mitigating actions in place to reduce the likelihood of that risk occurring.
“We have been very open about the areas that pose the most challenges for the agency, including residential care, home visiting and access.”
She said these issues had been addressed by Tusla’s crisis management team and their senior leadership with extensive guidance provided to staff.
The spokesperson also said staff had been going “above and beyond” to provide services during the public health crisis.
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Was the case before covid-19
@Agenda21: maybe it was already poor, that doesn’t make it right. Covid19 has made things worse for very vulnerable children, think of them before making a flippant comment.
Absolute shower of bull shitters.recently had dealings with them in relation to my children(my ex is a recovering alcoholic)the danger my children were in was high risk .I had to leave 3jobs and came very close to a break down.their main concern was taking my children off of me as my ex had 7 visits from them in 12 months (garda, neighbours calling social services)in the end I quit work and now I’m Bringing up my 5year old autistic son myself which is hard but doable.we had 5 different people replacing each other in that period. I wonder if I (a man)had been neglecting my kids the way their mother was would I have got away with what she did for so long(tusla turning a blind eye)basically they wanted me to put my kids into care.thank god with help from few people I got through that awful time
@Bartron5000: That’s all they do. They only turn a blind eye. They’re useless bureaucrats who provide no services pertaining to child protection.
@Bartron5000: its a child trafficking service. Money making scammers.
@Tiktok: if you knew my story pal.you hit the nail on the head
Probably, about 8 weeks late…
@JKtucker: schools closed 11 weeks ago
What services? That shower of imbosiles don’t do anything. My brothers were in the house with my mother who is horribly physically, emotionally and mentally abusive and they did nothing. I told them what happened to me and they said they can’t do anything because they cant prove it. After my mother’s household was raided by the garda and they found nearly 1,000 euro worth of cocain and weed (she sells it), she just got a fine and when i called them useless bast ards up they told me they still can’t do anything about it and they already knew about a previous raid that had happened that i was unaware of. And my case is jsut one of many. In summary, theyre disgusting and i dont know what services they provide but it’s certainly nothing pertaining to the safety of children.
Thats a bit rich from an organisation that has no problem handing a child over to an abuser just because she was the mother. They are not a child protection agency, they are only interested in protecting mothers. They have no problem going after men and seperating them from their children but when its a woman they make excuses for them and let them away with abuse.
@Daniel Muldoon: my ex wife was abusing the kids when I rang Tusla I was told not to be undermining my ex wife , I pleaded with them to go go and interview the children the phone was slammed down , it’s only when my son went into therapy that the real info came out , in the end I got custody of the three children , with absolutely no help from Tusla last time I spoke with them they wanted me to go into mediation with the abuser , they always seem to come down on the side of the female no matter how bad she is , when they eventually did call out to the house the told her in advance , she got 3 of her friends from the 1 family group who are of the same ilk as her to clean up the house , the kids had no place to sit down and do their homework even , joke of an organisation
Plenty of issues mentioned in this article have plenty to do with the mental health of adults. The mental health doesn’t have any priority anymore but can destroy the lives of many if not properly maintained.
I hope that mental health will get more spotlight these days and maybe also taken more seriously. It’s all great as long as you have it but the changes aren’t really noticeable until it’s too late.
The more restrictions on their services, the safer the children of this country will be.
Everytime i see that word i pronounce it tulsa.as in 24 hours from tulsa.
The laws and constitution need to change in Ireland. 50 50 access for kids after separation. The guards and tusla can only do so much with the laws the way they are.
@Sol Mac Eoghan: don’t know about that
@Paddy Dunne: separates couples needs to get on for the sake of the children, problem is they bring adult problems into the children’s lives that’s why it’s not 50 50 .undermining the primary carer is a cancer and if either one is at it you are asking for loads of trouble with regards the children’s mental health
They can do surprise visit now because everyone at home.
O know there not hero
Complete and utter bunch of idiots every single one of them, a waste of space and tax payers money,a dangerous bunch ,who think they are above the law.
have your say