Two reports highlight failings in the care of children known to the child protection services

Two reports published today highlight deficiencies in the care of children

known to the child protection services. The reports were carried out by the

National Review Panel and focus on a teenager called Sophie who died by suicide

and another teenager called Alana who was raped by a male carer.

Among the problems identified are a lack of proper supervision,

a shortage of staff and poor communications between agencies.

In a statement this afternoon, the Child and Family Agency

Tussler said it had worked to ensure that the necessary changes were made

and that young people are better protected. Joining me on the line is Dr Helen

Buckley who's the chair of the National Review Panel.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Rachel. Tell us first of all if you would

about Alana who was known to Tussler and was placed in the care of

I think extended family. What happened to her?

Well, Alana was placed with relatives under what was originally a private

arrangement which was an agreement between her family and Tussler and the

relatives that they would take care of her. And there are always good options

for young people because they're in a familiar setting with people that they

know and trust. But they do need to be regulated in the same way as any other

placement does. Now that placement was eventually

formalized and the carers became foster carers. But what we found in the review

was that I think a light touch was applied during the assessment and

the male foster carer had a history of alcohol abuse which

they assured social workers at the time was in the past and was well under control.

But in fact the event that happened, the sexual assault was carried out

in a context where the male carer was intoxicated. And so that's, you know,

drew our attention to that immediately. We did find overall that

because of the nature of the placement and I think also because the context at the

time was one of very straight and circumstances within Tussler.

You know where there were very short, short of staff and resources meant that

the compliance sets required under the child in care regulations wasn't really

adhered to and that there just wasn't sufficient attention paid to

potential difficulties that might arise in that placement.

As far as you were concerned was there also an issue about when the review panel was

informed of what had happened to Alana?

Yes, that's correct actually. If what happened was we spotted the court case

in the paper and in the media and we then made inquiries

and eventually the case was deferred to us. It's quite difficult to identify

what's a serious incident really I suppose because, you know,

unfortunately most of our cases involved children who have died.

When a serious incident involves a child who's still living

and it's up to Tussler staff and Tussler individual managers to identify whether

this case is of sufficient gravity to refer to us and the guidance does say

an incident happens to a child that has a lifelong effect on them

then it should be referred to us for investigation.

So we eventually got it but it was the events in the case occurred over 10 years ago

but Rachel I also have to say that when there's when there are criminal proceedings

ongoing, you know, it's difficult for us to carry out a review at the same time.

So that's part of the reason for for being so late.

The other report today is about a girl who you call Sophie.

Now she was only 14 when she died. Tell us about her.

It's a very sad situation like the rest of them.

Sophie was a lovely young woman who came from a very good family with very competent and caring

parents. She became troubled in her friend. She started in secondary school. She became extremely

troubled and started to sell harm. So in this case, comes was involved primarily. Comes,

you know, responded quickly. They provided a service. She became acutely ill and she was admitted

to a comes in patient unit who then wanted Tussler involved to provide community supports.

So in theory, that all sounds fine and a good plan but in practice, it actually didn't work

particularly well because our impression was that each service had a fixed idea of what

should happen and who should take the lead and there just wasn't agreement between them.

And in the meantime, Sophie's parents were left floundering. Really, they were completely overwhelmed

with trying to protect her and trying to stop her from harming herself, which which was very,

very challenging and ultimately they weren't able to do that. So our recommendations in that case

were that the Department of Health and the Department of Children and Tussler and the HSC

need to seriously address cases. We've published reports before of very similar issues where

the there is no real understanding between the two agencies as to what the issues are and who

needs to take the lead. And there is a joint protocol between Tussler and the HSC but we believe

that it needs to be revised to clarify when a child is at risk, whose responsibility it is

and who needs to lead on the provision of services. Just briefly on this, reading the report

this morning, it sounds as though you had some difficulty getting the cooperation of the child

in adolescent mental health service or CAMS. Staff didn't take part in the review and it took

you a while to get Sophie's mental health records. Well, there were two CAMS services involved

and in one service, yes, we had no difficulty at all in speaking to the psychiatrists there.

The other service was a community-based service and while they continually assured us that they

be available for interview they never made themselves available but they did send us their records.

So we were able to get a very full picture of what was going on in the case and what service they

were providing. Dr Helen Buckley, Chair of the National Review Panel, thank you for talking

to us this afternoon and if you've been affected by anything you heard there, you can find help

and support by logging on to rte.ie slash helplines, that's rte.ie forward slash helplines.