The child abuse guidelines published yesterday should make Ireland a safer place for children. They remove doubt as to what should be done when there is reason to suspect that a child is being neglected or physically, sexually or emotionally abused. They make clear the action which must be taken by health boards and the Garda in dealing with reported abuse. And they respect the need for a balance between the rights of families and those of children - in other words they make it clear that children must be protected and that families must be helped to do their best by their children.
How will the guidelines help children? In the first place, they set down the simple but powerful principle that, as the Minister of State for Children, Mr Frank Fahey, put it yesterday: "Any person who suspects that a child is being abused or is at risk of abuse should make a report to the health board or the Garda without delay". Second, they make it impossible for a person bringing a complaint to, for instance, the owner of a creche or the committee of a swimming club to be ignored. If the organisation provides services for children it must have a designated person responsible for reporting allegations of child abuse to the health board or the Garda. If the organisation decides not to make a report it must tell the complainant, in writing, why it has taken this decision and it must advise the complainant that he or she is free to take the complaint to the statutory authorities on an individual basis.
Third, they oblige social workers and gardai to carry out preliminary assessments of the safety of a child about whom a complaint has been received. If there is a concern about the child's safety, this must be recorded in what will, in effect, be a register of children at risk. More importantly, the Child Care Manager of the health board must ensure that the case of each child on the register is reviewed every six months.
These are important moves which will reduce the risk to children in our society. But they do not constitute a panacea. One problem is that the guidelines are not legally binding. Nevertheless any professional who ignores them would surely place himself or herself in a difficult position in any future inquiry or, indeed, in any court proceedings which might arise from a claim for damages by the child in future years. Certainly no professional can credibly say anymore that he or she did not know what to do. Mr Fahey has said he is in favour of making the guidelines legally binding on organisations, though when and whether this will happen remains to be seen.
Another problem is that the guidelines can only be implemented if health boards have the resources to do so. As IMPACT has stated, without additional resources the new guidelines will simply mean children waiting longer for services. It is to be hoped, however, that the existence of the guidelines will act as a pressure on the State to provide the funding and on the health boards to utilise their social workers to best effect. There is also the difficulty that the working party which drew up the guidelines wanted regional child protection committees to review how health boards handled the cases of specific children. That this has been dropped from the final guidelines is a disappointment and makes it all the more urgent for Mr Fahey to press on with the establishment of an office of Ombudsman for children.