Sir, – Referring to concerns raised in an interview with legal affairs correspondent Mary Carolan (“Inside the childcare courts”, July 20th) by three District Court judges relating to the challenges posed in caring for very vulnerable children, the response from the UCD School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice (Letters, July 29th) brings valuable context to at least one aspect of the issue.
The academics explain why the recruitment and retention of social workers is indeed more “complex and often misrepresented in a simple production line manner”. Tusla has consistently worked to overcome barriers to social worker recruitment and, for example, this year collaborated with UCC for the first ever apprenticeship scheme and tertiary scheme for social work.
There are several other facets to this issue. Since 2022, for example, there has been a 500 per cent increase in the number of separated children seeking international protection and the 92,000 referrals to Tusla in 2023 for child welfare and protection is twice the 2014 figure when Tusla was established. With the support of the Minister for Children we will have opened an additional 29 residential centres in the last two years. And we are a European leader in ensuring that 90 per cent of children in our care are in foster care.
However, we are acutely preoccupied with the fact that there are a small number of young people, approximately 150, where we are challenged to provide them with a stable and nurturing placement. Far from “shrugging our shoulders”, Tusla management and staff experience at first hand the impact of abuse, poverty, homelessness, addiction, and exploitation.
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It is fair for the judges to observe that Tusla is indeed involved “in an element of crisis management” in this specific area. However, to describe Tusla as “a faceless corporate” entity was unfortunate, gratuitous, and untrue. – Yours, etc,
PAT RABBITTE,
Chairperson,
Tusla, Child and Family Agency,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – The UCD School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice is seeking more investment in social work, in particular supporting students when completing their 1,000 hours of practitioner work as an integral part of their qualification.
There have been schemes in place in England that advanced financial support to students completing their final placements, on the understanding they would commit to two years with that employer once qualified. I availed of such an opportunity as a mature social work student.
This may be something that could be replicated here.
It is very important to attract candidates from all walks of life who can bring their individual experiences to help develop a stimulating education and practice environment. And it would be of significant detriment to social work if candidates with fewer economic resources were unable to participate in courses.
However, there are equally pressing challenges that are not related to more investment in social work. These are to do with the courses that equip social workers to perform their jobs. The biggest employer of social workers in Ireland is the State and the work undertaken in child protection, probation and medical settings is not primarily social justice driven, unlike community work and local service provision. Working with individuals should be based on respect and a recognition of a common humanity, as well as a clarity about the multiple resources that people have not had access to and which has probably led them to a State service. A lot of times these are not voluntary interactions, and this is challenging for both users and staff.
In this sense, it is important to reflect on whether social work courses and their practice environments are meeting the needs of students, practice teachers and academic practitioners. My sense is that a fundamental review is needed to evaluate current teaching content and methods, supervisory approaches and on the job training. Job turnover in social work has been an issue for a long time, with resulting detrimental experiences for services users, staff and employers.
Finally the need for multidisciplinary training with social care, health, justice and community disciplines has never really been grasped and the fractured, silo approach has meant workers have never had the opportunity to collectively understand their different disciplines. This is most significant in the void that exists between social care workers, who, among many other things, staff residential units for children in care, and social workers who place them. There is an urgent need to train these groups together and create a shared understanding of skills, roles and methodologies. There is also a need for employers and academia to work closely together to develop better support systems and practice guidance for newly qualified and more experienced practitioners. Collaboration in this context has been sparse and situational.
A positive example of good co-working has been the NVR (Non-Violent Response) Programme, but this has been primarily with social care workers and community services. There can also be initiatives at a local level in social work but these are not usually in conjunction with or supported by social work educators. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL RYAN,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.