Tusla - An Ghníomhaireacht um Leanaí agus an Teaghlach - Child and Family Agency

Tusla hosts National Review Panel Learning Seminar

“The establishment of Tusla – Child and Family Agency in January 2014 marked a fresh start for Ireland in terms of child protection.  Tusla has been tasked with improving wellbeing and outcomes for every child in Ireland, but we cannot do this alone.   The death of any child is a tragedy for his / her family.  For those professionals working with children it is important that the sense of loss is accompanied by a review of supports offered and an honest appraisal of their adequacy. The purpose of this seminar is to further develop best practice and in addition, expand the learning by looking at comparable international experience”, Brian Lee, Director of Quality Assurance said today (26th March 2015) whilst speaking at Tusla hosted seminar to explore the learning from the National Review Panel Process (NRP)* in relation to deaths and serious incidents of children known to child protection services.

“Perhaps the greatest challenge facing services working with families and children around child protection is that of interagency cooperation.  By sharing the findings and recommendations of the National Review Panel process with professionals inside and outside of Tusla, we are widening the circle of learning and strengthening our collective capacity to achieve better outcomes for  young people”, he added.

Commenting on the findings of the NRP, Dr Helen Buckley, Chairperson of the National Review Panel said: “There is evidence in the reports published today that the timing of interventions that were crucial to the well-being and safety of some of the young people concerned, were outside the control of the Child and Family Services and still continue to be outside the control of Tusla. As the reports shows, three of the four young women who committed suicide  had been on lengthy waiting lists for psychology services, and one of them could not access a mental health service in the days coming up to her death. A more integrated, multi-disciplinary and multi agency mental health service is going to be required if children and young people are to receive the care they need”.

Published today were reports of the NRP in relation to twelve young people and the NRP Annual Report 2013. Brian Lee said: “Significant reform, centred on co-ordination, accountability, oversight and multiagency working is taking place within Tusla and is embedded within the Agency’s recently published Corporate Plan 2015 – 17 and Business Plan 2015.  Relevant work includes: -

Development of the Child Protection Notification System to secure the safety of children at risk from harm – it will be an important tool to improve channels of communication and information sharing and will be accessible to frontline workers who face urgent decisions about the safety of a child out-of-hours.  It is anticipated that the system will be operational in 2015.

  • A national service delivery model to ensure effective oversight and accountability in meeting the needs of young people.
  • A consistent approach by practitioners to the implementation of Children First guidance.
  • A new assessment framework which provides greater oversight of Care Plans or Child Protection Plans. Care planning is  also now benchmarked and monitored against national guidance.
  • A Memorandum of Understanding between the Child and Family Agency and the HSE ensures that complex cases are discussed across agencies at six weekly intervals.  Multiagency working is also being improved through the introduction of Meitheal and the development of protocols around information sharing.
  • A Quality Assurance Framework to regularly monitor and review service delivery outcomes.
  • A dedicated Aftercare Service to standardise the delivery of Leaving and Aftercare Services across the country so that every young person who is eligible will be provided with services to meet their specific needs. 

ENDS

Note:*The National Review Panel is an independent function, under the chairmanship of Dr. Helen Buckley, which reviews cases where children in care, in aftercare or known to child protection services die or experience serious incidents.

National Review Panel Reports published March 2015

Contact Aoife Greene/Sharon Waters

087 63478373

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