The Review of Adequacy is not an end in itself; rather it is a process of review and reflection upon how services might be improved. In recent years a number of reports have highlighted the need for structural reform and more consistency in the way in which services are delivered. Meeting this challenge was a priority throughout 2010 and into 2011. The Government decision, late in 2010, to appoint a National Director for Children and Families Services reflected the commitment to address these issues in a meaningful way. Despite the financial constraints additional staff were recruited in key areas during the year. Greater emphasis was also placed on the efficient management of resources and on the management of performance.

• The first and second sections of this report provide a foreword and executive summary.
• The third section provides an introduction which sets out the statutory provisions governing the Review of Adequacy 2010.
• The fourth section addresses strategic change, governance and structure. It provides an overview of budget and expenditure, the structure of service provision and performance management arrangements.
• Section five provides an analysis of indicators of need. Ireland’s growing child population is highlighted. Other demographic factors are considered, such as poverty, lone parent families and ethnicity.
• Section six deals with family support services. There is an emphasis on the development of Children’s Services Committees as a means of integrating family support services across a range of key stakeholders. Welfare reports to social work departments continued to outnumber reports concerning child protection.
• In section seven trends in child protection services are analysed. Figures show a year-on-year increase in the number of reports being made. Neglect remained the consistently the most prominent reason for a child protection report to be made. Planned service improvements continued to be rolled out in the light of the Ryan Report (Commission of the Inquiry into Child Abuse 2009), report of the OCO on Children First (OCO 2010) and the Roscommon Child Care Inquiry report (Roscommon Child Care Inquiry Team 2010).
• Section seven describes alternative care services. The numbers of children in care has increased by 13.7% since 2006 from 5,247 to 5,965. However, the rate of children in care remains lower than those in neighbouring countries. Admissions to care were slightly down on the previous year. By the end of December the percentage of children in care with an allocated social worker exceeded 93%.
• In section eight services for education, training, research and policy are examined. During the year a National Advisory Group was established to provide advice on these internal services.
• Finally section nine draws broad overall conclusions

Table 12: Primary reason for welfare concern following initial assessment (2010) (PAGE 20)
Child Problems 30.2%
• Child with emotional/behavioural problems 14.7%
• Child abusing drugs/alcohol 2.0%
• Child involved in crime 0.3%
• Child pregnancy 0.5%
• Physical Illness/disability in child 0.3%
• Mental health problem/intellectual disability in child 1.3%
• Other 11.0%
Family Problems 69.8%
• Parent unable to cope 8.4%
• Family member abusing drugs/alcohol 15.9%
• Family member involved in crime 0.5%
• Domestic violence 4.6%
• Physical illness/disability in other family member 1.1%
• Mental health problem/intellectual disability in other family member 5.8%
• Family difficulty re: housing/finance 4.7%
• Parent separation/absence/other disharmony in home 13.6%
• Other 15.2%