Update: Child Abuse – Children and Youth Affairs 25th September, 2014

QUESTION NO:  159
DÁIL QUESTION addressed to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (Dr. James Reilly)
by Deputy Bernard J. Durkan
for WRITTEN ANSWER on 25/09/2014 

 *  To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the degree to which his Department has received reports of the various forms of child abuse in the past twelve months; the extent to which it has been found possible to provide an adequate follow up response; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

                                                                                         – Bernard J. Durkan

REPLY.
Statutory responsibility for the delivery of child welfare and protection services rests with the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, which is the appropriate body to receive all reports of concerns relating to all forms of child abuse.
Each referral received by the Agency is assessed and progressed on an individual basis by the relevant social work team.  Preliminary screening is aimed at establishing the appropriateness of the referral to Children and Family Agency, Tusla services and if necessary is followed by an initial assessment of the nature and degree of any harm and an assessment of the child’s needs.
The Agency has advised that  there were 4,641 referrals for child abuse during quarter one of 2014 – 1,037 (22%) of these referrals received related to a concern of physical abuse – 1,576 (34%) related to a concern of emotional abuse – 806 (18%)  related to sexual abuse and 1,222 (26%) referrals received related to neglect.  Following the preliminary enquiry by the Agency of the 4641 referrals, there was a reduction by 41% in the number of individual cases going on to have an initial assessment. The reasons for this included the duplication of referrals, the child being known to the service and receiving attention, or that the referral was not appropriate for the agency.
The Agency publishes a range of reports on performance indicators on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis. Among these indicators is information relating to referral and assessment processes, and numbers of substantiated cases which have led to a child’s name being placed on the Child Protection Notification System and having a Child Protection Plan. The Agency also provides an annual Review of Adequacy Report under Section 8 of the Child Care Act 1991. The annual service planning process provides an opportunity to set out service priorities in the context of available resources.  In addition, information is provided to me by the Agency on specific issues as required or to inform me of policy or legislative issues arising in the services.
My Department’s function is exercised through a range of interactions with officials in the Agency.  Among the more formal engagements are regular meetings between myself and the Chief Executive Officer of the Agency along with our respective senior management teams. Officials from my Department also meet formally on a quarterly basis with their counterparts in the Agency to discuss Performance Indicators and to seek in general to maintain and where possible improve the service provided by the Agency to the wider public.  The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) inspect Agency Child Protection and Welfare and services for children in care and publish reports of their findings.  There are regular and ongoing meetings between my Department and HIQA where HIQA report on their monitoring of services for children at risk.