Dublin South West TD, Seán Crowe, has said that a report published by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) of an inspection of Fresh Start Foster Care Service raises serious questions as to the level of child protection safeguards being afforded to children in foster care settings. The Sinn Féin TD said major non-compliance issues were found in 5 out of 11 standards which were examined.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“The content of this report needs to serve as a wakeup call to anyone concerned with vulnerable children and will inevitably raise further concerns about child protection and child services in the State.

“The Fresh Start Service, which is a private service provider, was found to be drastically non-compliant with standards not being met in many areas of huge concern. The organisation which was monitored by Tusla, the child and family agency, provides placements in the Dublin-Mid Leinster region.

“Given the ongoing media scrutiny and public concern this issue has rightly caused, it is alarming to see yet another report flag up issues around vulnerable children.

“The HIQA report highlighted unacceptable low standards in areas like matching carers with children and young people, safeguarding and child protection, assessment and approval of foster carers, training and qualifications, and management and monitoring of foster care agency.

“The report did find that the majority of children were happy and contented in their foster homes but that ten placements had ended abruptly and there appeared to have been no analysis of this. The report also criticised the lack of supports to all foster carers particularly those first time carers and this needed to improve.

“All of the above are imperative to a working system. They should be the bare minimum of what we expect, and the fact that none of them have come close to meeting standards is indicative of a system that is not working for children and their careers.”

ENDS