Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD, Seán Crowe, has urged Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald, to act on the findings of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) report on foster care and children’s residential services, some of which he said was extremely worrying.

Crowe said that over many years, successive reports have shown how the state has utterly failed children in care and once again the HIQA report reveals gaping holes in the system.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“The HIQA report on foster care and residential services will increase the genuine concerns that people have about the serious deficiencies in services for children.

“Over many years, successive reports have shown how we have utterly failed children in care. In its report today, HIQA has once again revealed gaping holes in the system.

“The Minister for Children must act promptly on the findings of this report. The establishment of the Child and Family Agency, the legislation for which was addressed in the Dáil last week, will be a hollow exercise unless the necessary staff and other resources are made available to provide essential front-line services for children.

“The findings, based on an overview of 33 inspections carried out in 2012, are very worrying, especially with regard to foster care.

“Children in the care system are among the most vulnerable children in the State, and many have past experiences of abuse and neglect. These children have a clear right to be provided with special protection and assistance

“The most damning aspect of the report was that HIQA has found a lack of urgency on the part of the HSE in some of their investigations of allegations made against foster carers.

“Another major gap highlighted was the finding that in 2012 that some children did not have social workers and some children lived with unapproved foster carers.

“The lack of adequate support for and monitoring of foster carers, the insufficient number of foster carers in some areas and staff shortages, are all impacting negatively on the Health Service Executive’s ability to deliver a safe, reliable and high quality fostering service.

“These highly important issues require immediate action.

“This report provides us with a valuable analysis of foster and residential care for children in Ireland. While examples of good practice have been identified, the report highlights many areas of serious concern where immediate action must be taken.

“I agree with the Children’s Alliance assessment of this report when they said that, ‘we cannot wait for the creation of the Child and Family Agency that will somehow wave a magic wand and fix these problems.

“It is clear from this timely report that action is needed from the Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald and needed urgently.”

ENDS