The number of children being referred to Tusla has surged by 50% since 2018, it can be revealed.
Up to May this year, the agency has already received 33,201 referrals, while a record total of 82,855 children were referred to the agency in 2022, which is responsible for improving wellbeing and outcomes for children. This, the highest number on records, compares with 55,136 referrals made to the agency five years ago, in 2018.
The State’s Child and Family Agency, formed in 2014, represents the most comprehensive reform of child protection, early intervention and family support services ever undertaken in Ireland.
The information regarding a steep rise in referrals was obtained via a Parliamentary Question asked by Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, who said the increase was indicative of “something very wrong” with our society.
“There is something very wrong with our society when 20,000 more children are being referred to TUSLA than sitting the leaving cert,” he said on Twitter today.
Aontú has found out that there is a surge in the number for children being referred to TUSLA.
There is something very wrong with our society when 20,000 more children are being referred to TUSLA that sit the leaving cert. https://t.co/wVkgsxPWo8 pic.twitter.com/8vj9ZyPJnk
— Peadar Tóibín TD (@Toibin1) July 18, 2023
Aontú found out that, so far this year Gardaí have made 10,000 referrals to Tusla, while Social Workers made 4,000, and Teachers also made 4,000 referrals to the child protection agency.
A breakdown of the numbers shows that 93 of the referrals came from probation officers, while 92 came from Managers of Direct Provision Centres. 62 came from addiction counsellors, while seven referrals were made by members of the clergy, and four from dentists.
Addressing the figures on Tuesday, Meath West TD Mr Tóibín said: “To put this in context, roughly 20,000 more children were referred to Tusla than sat the leaving cert last year.
“It is strange that while the number of children being referred to Tusla each year is increasing so drastically, the number actually being taken into care is not increasing at the same rate,” he stated.
“I would question whether capacity in the fostering or residential care system is affecting the decision-making in this process. Are children being turned away because there simply isn’t capacity in the system?”
He referred to a damning UCD study, published last month, which revealed that children were being raped and sexually exploited by “gangs of men” while in the care of the State agency. The findings have sparked calls from the researchers for an immediate investigation into the exploitation by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) which oversees Tusla services.
“In recent weeks it has become more and more apparent that the system is under enormous pressure and that children are being failed as a result – whether its unaccompanied minors being left homeless on the street, or children being put into unsuitable care settings like hotels and B&Bs to the extremes of children being sexually exploited while under the care of the State,” he said.
“The statistics which Aontu have been compiling over the past few years should be cause for serious alarm, from the suicide and homicide rate among children in care, to the fact that a retired judge had to blow the whistle on the flaws in the system, child protection and safeguarding needs to be absolutely prioritised by the Child and Family Agency, and the government must step up to face this very serious scandal.
“The state must also seek to determine what is happening within some families that is leading to such neglect and abuse in 2023”, the TD added.
‘SERVICE AT ‘CRISIS POINT’
The Irish Daily Mail today reports that Tusla’s CEO has warned that the agency is at “crisis point” following the rise in referrals over the last five years.
Tusla’s interim chief executive, Karen Duggan, said the increasing numbers of referrals year-on-year is indicative of the “unprecedented challenges that the agency faces.”
She said the uptick in demand for the services Tusla provides, which include foster care, residential care, higher support and an assessment consultation therapy service (ACTS), is down to issues including the housing crisis and increased migration. Such factors have “placed the agency at crisis point,” she said.
It comes after it emerged yesterday that district judge Dermot Simms has written to government ministers and state agencies to express his “utmost concern” for children in the care of the state. Judge Simms, who has since retired from the Dublin Metropolitan District Court, sent the comprehensive letter along with related documents after he had been told in court of the “unprecedented crisis” Tusla is confronted with.
A total of 67 reports were published on Monday by the Child Law Project detailing cases before the Irish courts that concern children in care, or children who are subject to care applications by Tusla, including the input from Judge Simms.
The judge warned of a shortage of qualified staff, along with suitable placements, issuing a caution that Ireland is likely to face future claims for its failure to comply with its duty to minors.
He outlined a number of factors he believes are to blame – including the HSE’s inadequate discharge planning from involuntary detention in special care, along with the need for school places and assessments. He also pointed to the inadequate provision of third-level placements to make sure Ireland has a sufficient number of qualified social workers, and the communication between Garda and Tulsa where it relates to complaints of child sexual abuse.
Judge Simms referred to two specific cases, one where a nine-year-old boy and another, involving a six-year-old girl, being placed in unsuitable accommodation – saying such cases exemplify similar cases before Irish courts on a daily basis.
He also cited evidence suggesting that special emergency arrangements (SEA) were unregulated and unapproved – and that there had been approximately 120-130 children without a placement. The judge said that a “significant component” of the current crisis in care for children is down to a “lack of properly regulated suitable placements for foster care, residential placements, and special (secure) care.”
‘INCREASING NUMBERS OF UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN ARRIVING IN IRELAND’
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, speaking at a summit Brussels on Monday, addressed Judge Simms ‘ warnings, published in the report by the Children’s Law Project – describing them as a “matter of deep concern.”
“Certainly the report out today is a matter of deep concern. It isn’t new to the Government in the sense that we’ve had discussions in Cabinet in many meetings over recent months around the whole issue of children in care,” Mr Varadkar said.
“The truth is that the number of children who need to be taken into care by the State has increased considerably,” he said. Mr Varadkar said this was partly because of an increasing number of children coming unaccompanied from Ukraine and other countries seeking asylum.
“Sometimes parents are dead, sometimes parents are in prison, increasingly because of migration parents don’t have a family network around them, and increasing numbers of unaccompanied children are arriving in Ireland from Ukraine and elsewhere.”
“We have been struggling to match that with the skilled staff who have the skills and qualifications to look after children who need State care.”
“It is something we’re very aware of, deeply concerned about, and we are actively working on,” he said.