SOCIAL WORKERS have warned that vulnerable children are at “huge risk” due to major gaps in child protection and family support teams. This follows the disclosure of an unpublished report compiled by the Health Service Executive (HSE) that found that 6,500 children at risk have not been allocated a social worker.
The Irish Association of Social Workers said children will continue to be at risk as long as health authorities fail to fill vacant social work posts, recruit new social work staff or fully resource regular child protection and welfare social work teams.
“Child protection and family support teams are still not fully resourced and are operating in a context of increasing demand and shrinking resources,” said Declan Coogan, the association’s spokesman.
Children’s charity Barnardos also urged the Government to act immediately to resource staffing for social care services. Fergus Finlay, Barnardos chief executive, said the report published yesterday in The Irish Times showed the “dire state” of social services.
“We have long called for adequate resourcing to ensure that social workers can respond to children and families quickly and effectively. Early intervention is the key to helping children before situations reach crisis point,” Mr Finlay said.
He said a comprehensive social care system could make a huge difference to the outcomes for children dealing with often traumatic situations.
Mr Finlay called on Minister for Health Mary Harney to immediately follow up on promises made to recruit social workers to those teams most in need of them.
