A HIQA inspection report on foster care services in Sligo, Leitrim and West Cavan has found major non-compliance with safeguarding and child protection.
The report was published this morning on the services in what is child and family agency TUSLA’s west region.
As part of its 2019 and 2020 monitoring programme, HIQA is conducting inspections across all 17 Tusla areas in the country.
It conducted an inspection of the Sligo/Leitrim/West Cavan foster care service from 28th to 31st of January 2019.
At the time of the inspection, there were 103 children in foster care in the area.
Of these, 26 children were placed with relatives.
The remaining 77 children were placed with general foster carers.
Children who met with or spoke to inspectors felt safe, were happy and well cared for in their placements.
They also felt happy about their contact with family members.
Children described good relationships with their social workers and foster carers.
Young adults spoke positively about the aftercare service and felt that they were receiving sufficient support to prepare them for adult life.
However, inspectors found that, during the two years prior to this inspection, seven children were not visited within required timeframes.
Social workers were responsible for maintaining records of the service provided to children, but inspectors found that some case notes and records of home visits had not been completed.
Social workers found the electronic system used to manage children’s records complex to navigate.
There was a good system in place to manage child in care reviews.
For these care reviews, children, their parents, foster carers and others involved were invited to attend and the views of children were sought and listened to, but the locations of reviews were not child-friendly.
Voluntary consent provided by parents at the time of children’s admission to care was not subject to review.
Children had good-quality care plans but not all care plans were completed in a timely manner.
The quality of case management records of social workers was not always adequate.
The area tried to ensure that children were matched with foster carers who had the capacity to meet their needs, but there was a delay in the long-term approval of placements planned for six months or more.
There was good practice in regard to the categorisation, management and oversight of complaints, and the concerns and allegations against foster carers.
But not all allegations made by children were assessed and investigated in line with Children First guidelines.
HIQA says that given the difficulties in accessing records, such as case notes, on the electronic system, and the absence of chronologies of key events, it is critical that safety plans are clearly accessible on all files of children where risks have been identified
Meanwhile, the Sligo/Leitrim/West Cavan foster care service area has provided an action plan response to address the non-compliances identified during the HIQA inspection.
