Tusla – Child and Family Agency Publishes Annual Report for 2017

Thursday, 19th July 2018: Tusla – Child and Family Agency today publishes its Annual Report for 2017. The report outlines Tusla’s activities in its fourth year of operation during which the agency received 53,755 referrals to child protection and welfare services (one every 10 minutes).

The developments and progress made since establishment highlight the importance of having a dedicated organisation to deliver appropriate, proportionate and timely services to children and families.

Speaking about the Annual Report 2017 Brian Lee, Director of Quality Assurance, Tusla said:

“Tusla’s Annual Report 2017 outlines the work of Tusla during its fourth year of operation. 2017 was a very busy year for the agency with 53,755 referrals to child protection and welfare services. 2017 saw 95% of children in Care, and every single child on the Child Protection Notification System with an allocated social worker.

Despite challenges such as increasing demand, rising referral rates, and legacy issues, Tusla is delivering on its major programme of reform which will ultimately enhance services for vulnerable children, young people, and families.”

In May 2017 Tusla launched its new Child Protection and Welfare Strategy for 2017-2022 which is a core part of the agency’s programme of reform and includes a new national approach to practice, the Signs of Safety, which will ensure that all staff will engage with children and families using one consistent approach.

Other key achievements in 2017 include:

• The successful preparation for and implementation of Children First including a suite of information materials available on the website;
• Significant progress on the roll out of the National Childcare Information System which is now live across the country;
• The recruitment of the first dedicated Director of ICT who has developed a robust three-year strategy;
• A number of initiatives with in the office of the Chief Operations Officer to enhance service quality and to improve governance and oversight including the introduction of service improvement teams;
• 2,037 young people in receipt of aftercare service;
• 2,033 inspections of early years services;
• Educational Welfare Services worked with 3,522 new individual children during the academic year 2016 – 2017;
• At least 39,065 children referred to family support services;
• 1,409 Meitheal* processes requested;
• The establishment of the Programme Management Office (PMO).

Tusla Annual Report 2017