ANALYSIS:How many more reports do we need before we properly address fundamental failures? asks
CARL O'BRIEN
IF MANY of the shocking findings and recommendations in the Roscommon abuse report sound strangely familiar, that's because they are.
They are to be found in the reports of other cases such as the Kilkenny incest case, the Kelly Fitzgerald case in Mayo, the McColgan cases in Sligo, as well as case reviews into the deaths of children in care such as Tracey Fay and David Foley.
Yet most of the recommended changes - better co-operation between State agencies; a standardised approach to dealing with abuse concerns; more emphasis on more robust preventive measures - are marked by the same pattern of inaction.
Yesterday's report once again shines a light on the problems facing our creaking and chaotic child protection system.
It shows how a system designed to protect the most vulnerable of children did not respond to the needs of children left at risk of abuse and neglect until it was far too late.
Despite the good intentions of staff, there was a monumental failure to identify the extent and severity of the neglect and abuse.
This is what happens when child protection systems are poorly organised, badly managed and under-resourced. It also shows what happens when agencies which profess to be concerned with the wellbeing of children end up ignoring the voices of the young people concerned. It would be easy to demonise individual social workers involved in handling the case. Certainly, the report shows clear evidence where legal avenues were not properly explored, where concerns were not properly responded to, and where management of the case failed spectacularly badly. And there may well be cases where disciplinary action is merited.
Yet the report also shows a deep frustration on the part of some social workers in not being able to respond more quickly and move the case forward, even in the face of mounting evidence of neglect.
Child protection is an unenviable task at the best of times, walking the tightrope between trying to support families in their homes and taking the drastic step of taking children into care.
Across the HSE, many frontline social workers feel isolated and vulnerable in their day-to-day work due to heavy caseloads and a lack of leadership at senior levels within the HSE. Typically, they want more support and lighter caseloads to be able to work with at-risk families.
In this case, it seems certain that the burden on individual social workers, combined with wider systems failures, meant the children in this family ended up at risk of abuse for far too long.
So, is the Roscommon case unique? Are there children in other families suffering needlessly from abuse or neglect where social services have failed to intervene early enough?
It's impossible to say. Among the many recommendations in this report is for the HSE to undertake a national audit of chronic neglect cases to help ensure other children are not being left at risk.
What we do know is that the problems facing Roscommon are not unique to it and are replicated in many other parts of the country.
And this is just part of the problem. We already know that hundreds of children are living with unapproved carers; that overworked social workers are unable to respond to thousands of cases of suspected abuse or neglect; that more than 100 vulnerable young people in care or in contact with social services have died of brutal causes such as by suicide, drugs overdoses and unlawful killings.
Instead of more reviews, we need more radical steps. The momentum behind a push to establish an agency or Government department responsible for child protection and other social services such as mental health and disability will surely keep growing.
Groups such as Barnardos and others have called for a full-time Cabinet minister to be appointed to prioritise these issues and drive change. Above all, it will need to have the full support of Government from the Taoiseach down.
In the meantime, the HSE has apologised publicly and unreservedly. It has pledged to act on all the recommendations and says many of these steps are already under way. These include appointing social workers, issuing updated professional practice guidance and standardising assessment procedures.
Actions speak louder than words, as the Children's Right Alliance said yesterday.
The HSE will now be judged on whether it finally implements these recommendations which have been made before in many previous reports.
The most vulnerable children cannot afford to wait any longer.