Care plans drawn up for children at a residential childcare centre in Dublin "fall so far below an acceptable standard that they should be set aside", according to an inspector's report on the home.
The report, compiled by the Irish Social Services Inspectorate, said none of the care plans for the four children at Pineridge Children's Residential Centre in Balbriggan met the requirements of 1995 childcare regulations.
The care plans for three of the children were drawn up two to three years after the children were admitted to care. The fourth was drawn up about five weeks after the child was admitted last year. The children were aged eight to 15 years and three of them were siblings.
However, the report said the children were well looked after by committed and conscientious staff.
Stressing the importance of the care plans, it said they should help to stop children from drifting in the system. "If there is no identified aim for the young person's placement it is literally, aimless," it said.
"The care plans seen by the inspectors are inadequate . . . they fall so far below an acceptable standard that they should be set aside and a proper care planning process initiated." The report, released under the Freedom of Information Act, also said relationships between staff and social workers suffered from poor communications.
"Several staff members described difficulties in simply making contact with social workers. They complained of phone calls not being returned. The acting manager stated that, once contact is made, working relationships are quite positive, though this was not a view expressed by other staff members," the report said.
It pointed out that all the staff were temporary and only two had qualifications recognised by the Department of Health as professional childcare qualifications. Furthermore, it said a fire escape door in the house was kept locked with no key adjacent to it. A medicine chest had a broken hinge and could not be locked. "This matter needs to be rectified immediately," it said.
However, the inspectors said close attention was paid to the children's health and education and staff were praised for the way they dealt with one difficult child in particular.
A spokeswoman for the health board said it received a copy of the report last month and was implementing its recommendations. She said a qualified childcare worker had been appointed as permanent manager of the centre and the head social worker in the area was working with this manager to address the report's recommendations.
"Care planning training has taken place for all social workers in the area and a new uniformed care planning process is now in place," she said.
"Training has also been arranged for the staff in Pineridge aimed at addressing communication issues, team building and staff development. This training is to take place in June," the spokeswoman added.