Almost a third of children's residential centres inspected by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) last year had not vetted all their staff properly, according to a new report.
The report, published today by Hiqa, said residential centres must obtain three references for all staff prior to them commencing work in the childcare sector and all employees must also get Garda clearance.
During inspections of 38 centres during 2008, Hiqa found 12 of them did not have three references on file for all employees and three centres did not have Garda clearance for a number of employees before they started work.
"It is the responsibility of the HSE to vet staff prior to commencing employment in children's residential centres ... the failure to obtain Garda clearance and securing three references for employees before they commence employment is a matter of serious concern as not adhering to this practice may cause children in care to be subject to unnecessary risk," the report said.
The National Children in Care Inspection Report 2008also noted that while there was evidence of good practice in many centres "there is also evidence of areas where services need to improve significantly".
Issues needing to be addressed include ensuring children have care plans, plans for leaving care, proper handling of children who abscond and may be at risk and ensuring fire regulations are met.
The report said inspectors noted with concern that even in cases where HSE monitoring officers who visited the centres had drawn the attention of senior managers in the HSE to breaches of regulations it had no impact.
Meanwhile the report, which makes 21 recommendations, also highlighted the findings of one of the first inspections by Hiqa of foster care services for children in the State.
There are approximately 5,500 children in care in the State, with around 89 per cent of these in foster care provided by both relatives and non-relatives.
Hiqa is concerned that many of the foster carers who are relatives are not being assessed to ensure their suitability and many have no allocated social worker.
The report says over two thirds of relative foster carers had not undergone a comprehensive assessment as required under the regulations.
"This finding gives rise to concern as placing children with carers who have not been subject to a comprehensive assessment and vetting, albeit with a relative, is unsafe. All foster carers must be assessed prior to providing care to children," it says.
It adds that while 85 per cent of non-relative foster carers were allocated to social workers only 40 per cent of relative foster carers were. This too was of concern, the report says, as individuals providing care to children "should be supported in the provision of foster care in accordance with the recognised standards".
Dr Marion Witton, chief inspector of social services within Hiqa, said the board of the HSE was now being asked to nominate a national director who would be accountable for implementing this report's recommendations.
Minister for Children Barry Andrews said it was essential that services were monitored and evaluated in "a robust and rigorous manner".
"Reports such as the one launched today provide Government and the HSE with valuable information on the delivery of services. Moreover, these reports provide a public account of the service provided to children.
"These reports constantly challenge policy makers and service providers. The value of inspection is wholly dependent on the degree to which recommendations are implemented. Where the State steps into the role of the “corporate parent”, there is an onus on the State to provide the same level of care that is delivered by parents in most family units," Mr Andrews said.
"The report identifies instances where standards are not being met but also highlights examples of good practice. There is much good work being undertaken by social workers, care workers and other professionals in difficult circumstances and this often goes unnoticed and unacknowledged.
"The underlying principles for the provision of these services must always be that children are safe, secure, protected and being assisted to reach their full potential with their families. We must strive to deliver services in a consistent fashion and unfortunately shortcomings referenced in the report relate to inconsistencies in approaches to critical services like aftercare and care planning."
The HSE welcomed today's report saying that it was pleased to note a number of postive developments highlighted in it.
It added that individual services would be addressing gaps uncovered and said that the recommendations outlined by Hiqa which are not resource dependent resources are being considered for inclusion in its 2010 service plan