Providing appropriate care placements, allocated social workers and support services for children in care have all been areas highlighted for improvement by the Ireland-based organisation.
Over the past three years the government have supplied the Child Law Project with a grant to help them publish reports about the children’s care sector. At the beginning of this week, the organisation, which is based in Dublin, published its final volume which is comprised of 70 reports. 67 of them have an input from the District Court, one from each of the Supreme Court, Circuit Court and High Court. These were all attended by Child Law Project reporters over the first half of 2024.
Within the huge document there is one area that dominates – the shortage of appropriate care placements. This includes in foster care and special care. Reporters claimed that multiple judges said they were ‘in despair’ at the situation, with one High Court judge describing the lack of special care beds as ‘a tsunami about to reach shore and nothing is being done’.
Children who receive special care include those who have a physical disability or learning disability. Experts have remarked that the lack of beds available to special care children has come from confusion between children facing criminal charges and requiring special care or other residential care, and the lack of step-down and high support care units.
Another area of particular concern are cases where the child was being sexually or criminally exploited and the level of support in their care placement was not enough to address the situation.
One heartbreaking example of this is a teenager, who had the cognitive ability of a ten-year-old, had been raped while in the care of Tusla. There were also beliefs she was being sexually trafficked throughout the country. This case came back before the court on over ten occasions, but the girl remained without a special care bed.
‘The lack of suitable care placements is having a domino effect that risks collapsing the care system. The knock-on effects of a lack of appropriate placements are compounding existing difficulties for children and staff and so we fear the system has begun to unravel,’ said Dr Maria Corbett, CEO of the Child Law Project. ‘The knock-on effects of a dearth of placements include the CFA delaying applications to take children into care and continuing to use unregulated or unsuitable emergency placements.’
Dr Corbett continued: ‘Many children are experiencing multiple placement moves, often over a short period of time, despite stability being a known key ingredient for a successful outcome to care. Urgent action across government is needed to halt this spiral of poor practice and to build trust in the care system.
‘Of particular concern in this volume are a number of cases where there was concern that the child was being sexually or criminally exploited and the level of support in their current care placement was not sufficient to stabilise them and address these risks.
‘For some, as their case returned to court for review, the situation deteriorated and became very bleak, with staff scrambling to keep the child safe.’
Dr Carol Coulter, executive director of the Child Law project, added: ‘This volume, like the preceding 28 volumes published by the Child Law Project since 2013, demonstrates the crucial role of the courts in protecting the rights of children in State care, while also ensuring that the rights of vulnerable parents are upheld and that the door to reunification is not closed.
‘Although the District Court is described as a court of summary jurisdiction, in child care cases District Court judges pay close and empathetic attention, often devoting days to hearings, to the needs of some of the most vulnerable in our society, children at risk of neglect and harm.’
Following these horrific findings, the Child Law Project is now calling on the government to halt the spiral of ‘poor practice’ and added that trust needed to be built in the care system.
As of June 2024, the Child Law Project stopped attending court.
Image: Tingey Injury Law Firm
Free childcare is necessary but do we have enough placements?
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