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State care: Scabies, bed bugs and risk of self-harm and peer-to-peer abuse among accommodation concerns

Internal Tusla notes reveal stark concerns with unregulated emergency accommodation for children in care

Internal correspondence said there had been cases of children contracting scabies in emergency care. Photograph: iStock

Jack Power
Mon Mar 25 2024 - 06:00

Vulnerable children in State care living in overcrowded emergency accommodation were found to have contracted scabies and been sleeping in rooms with bed bugs, internal documents show.

In one case social workers were concerned that placing a child in unregulated emergency accommodation could lead the young person to self-harm and even take their own life.

Tusla, the child and family agency, is placing 170 children in accommodation known as “special emergency arrangements” (SEAs), run by care staff from private companies.

The Irish Times has seen a large leak of documents, including internal Tusla emails, briefings, audit reports and confidential case notes from social workers, which highlight serious concerns about the use of the emergency accommodation.

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[ Children in emergency Tusla accommodation at risk of abuse ]

Confidential notes about one girl in the agency’s care bluntly laid out concerns social workers had with placing her in a special emergency arrangement. The unregulated accommodation provided “no therapeutic supports” and amounted to “containment of a child only”, the notes stated.

“This is an arrangement assessed as potentially creating a higher level of risk to [the young person], as there are high concerns that she may hurt, harm, or even kill herself and an arrangement like this may just exacerbate her behaviours,” it stated.

Most young people are sharing bedrooms – some rooms have double beds. This posed a risk of peer-on-peer abuse taking place, where one young person might abuse another

Tusla has had to increasingly rely on the emergency arrangements due to a shortage of both foster carers and group care homes, which are run by the agency directly, or voluntary or private providers.

Figures show there were 85 children in Tusla’s care in emergency accommodation at the start of last year, which has now more than doubled to about 180. Of that number, about two-thirds are underage asylum seekers who arrived in the country without guardians, known as unaccompanied minors.

Internal emails show concerns were flagged inside Tusla about the standard of accommodation this cohort were being housed in.

John Maguire, Tusla’s acting head of practice assurance, said inspections of the emergency accommodation had thrown up a number of “systemic issues”, which posed potential risks.

In an August 28th, 2023 email to senior officials, Mr Maguire said there had been “immediate safeguarding concerns” which had been escalated within Tusla.

The correspondence said many young people had to share bedrooms due to the numbers being put into accommodation together. “Most young people are sharing bedrooms – some rooms have double beds,” it stated. This posed a risk of “peer-on-peer abuse” taking place, where one young person might abuse another.

In regulated group care homes, children are required to have their own bedroom. A July 2023 document setting out standards for emergency arrangements stated children “should have their own bedroom”.

However, a spokeswoman for Tusla said “there can be circumstances where young people can share a bedroom” in emergency accommodation, but they would have individual beds.

The internal correspondence from Mr Maguire said “high occupancy rates” in the accommodation posed a public health risk. There had been cases of children contracting scabies and living in rooms with bed bugs, it said.

Inspections had found private providers running accommodation did not have plans in place for when young people went missing from care. “This is significant for this cohort of young people due to potential trafficking,” it said.

Mr Maguire said all unaccompanied minors in Tusla’s care needed to be visited by a social worker “as a priority”. The agency also needed to review the numbers of children being placed together in emergency accommodation, he wrote.

An internal October 10th, 2023 briefing said a fifth of children in SEAs who were not unaccompanied minors had been put into emergency accommodation after a previous placement in a regulated group care home had broken down.

The vast majority of young people had been in emergency arrangements for longer than six months. In one instance, a child with “very specific needs” had been in a placement for more than two years, the briefing stated. An analysis of 65 cases where children were in SEAs found about one in 10 were under 12 years of age.

Last year, Tusla spent more than €70 million placing children in emergency accommodation, which included €58 million paid to 10 companies running or staffing the arrangements.

In recent weeks The Irish Times reported that one of the previous largest providers of the unregulated accommodation, Ideal Care Services, was found to have “fabricated” pre-employment checks of staff.

Emails show a social worker reported concerns internally about another company, Clarion Healthcare, which is one of the main providers of emergency accommodation.

In a November 2022 email, a Tusla social worker passed on information they had received from one young person in accommodation run by the company. The social worker said they had seen videos of the youth and a friend smoking what he admitted was “joints”. They had claimed “Clarion staff were fully aware of this as they would come into the room and not do anything to stop this”, the social worker wrote.

The company, set up in the second half of 2022, received €3.9 million from Tusla last year, figures show. Adeniyi Ademola (36), from Navan, Co Meath, is the managing director and owner of Clarion.

In further September 2022 emails to the company, Tusla criticised the fact staff had failed to address “obvious health and safety hazards” at one property.

Correspondence shows Mr Ademola shut down one placement run by the company in response to a “recent incident”. The company was committed to “providing quality accommodation and staffing” to young people in its care, he wrote.

Clarion, which is accommodating seven young people in special emergency arrangements, did not respond to questions about the criticism of the company.

A further complaint was received about another large provider of emergency arrangements, Reign Healthcare, a company run by Tariro Taruvinga (42), Portarlington, Co Laois.

In late 2022, an organisation working in the care sector made a complaint to Tusla about emergency accommodation run by the company. It claimed a house being used to accommodate two girls was “unfit for purpose” and did not appear to be appropriately staffed, with care workers having “poor English and communication skills”.

The girls living in the accommodation indicated they “hated” the placement, it said. “We genuinely have concerns for the [young people] placed in the care of this service and believe it requires in-depth investigation,” the complaint stated.

Reign Healthcare was paid €5.4 million by Tusla last year, making it the fifth largest provider of emergency accommodation. It is housing two children on behalf of Tusla. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

Where concerns are identified, including the behaviour of young people, staff, and the quality of care, the agency takes immediate and swift action to address them

—  Tusla

An audit of another company running emergency accommodation, MCMA, criticised a “lack of recording of child protection matters”, which needed to be addressed “as a matter of urgency”.

Tusla inspectors said children living in the placement were “very complimentary” of the care they received. However, the accommodation was a considerable distance from the communities where the young people had been living.

This meant they faced a daily commute of “between two and five hours” to travel to school, which was “exhausting” for the young people and the staff tasked with driving. The company, which is operating 11 SEAs, did not respond to questions about the audit report.

In a statement, Tusla said oversight of emergency accommodation was a priority “at all levels” and it was committed to reducing the numbers of children placed in the arrangements. “Efforts are made to move the young people from special emergency arrangements to regulated settings as soon as possible, once alternative placements become available,” it said.

Tusla said in a small number of “complex” cases children might spend an “extended time” in emergency accommodation, “where it is in their best interest”.

The agency said while it could not comment on individual cases, it took all complaints and concerns very seriously. “Where concerns are identified, including the behaviour of young people, staff, and the quality of care, the agency takes immediate and swift action to address them,” it said.

Jack Power

Jack Power

Jack Power is acting Europe Correspondent of The Irish Times

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