REPORTS PUBLISHED in recent days into the deaths of two vulnerable teenagers in State care make for shocking reading. They show how social services failed repeatedly to provide both David Foley and Tracey Fay with sufficient care or protection when they needed it most. There was a litany of failures by social work services, including chaotic case management and inexcusable delays in providing essential supports.
But perhaps the most disturbing finding is that these failures were not isolated. Rather, they were systemic problems in what seems to be a broken and dysfunctional child protection service. These two young people were not ignored by social services. Dozens of agencies and personnel were involved in their care. However, the system was never able to provide meaningful support or to intervene early enough to make a difference.
The crushing reality is that social services are operating against a backdrop of scarce resources, staff shortages and heavy caseloads. The system continues to be dominated by crisis management rather than seeking to support families or young people earlier in their lives.
The Government has announced a review group to examine the circumstances surrounding the deaths of other children in State care over the past decade. They will inevitably point to the same kinds of problems: chaotic communication, bad care planning, lack of follow-through and overburdened staff.
As a society that regards itself as civilised, how many more times will we tolerate such failures? How many more children must suffer or even die before we take decisive measures to reform our child protection system? The Government and Health Service Executive say they are taking steps to improve services and recruit more social workers. But these moves do not amount to the kind of decisive or fundamental reform needed to transform child protection services.
Just last week the Government’s special rapporteur on child protection Geoffrey Shannon called for an independent national review of social services for vulnerable children. He is right. We need a system which supports families and parents in difficult situations before their problems escalate into crises. We need a system which, when it admits a child into its care, does everything possible to ensure it is to a stable, loving placement that meets the young person’s needs. It is the very least we should learn from the tragic deaths of vulnerable children in our care.