The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has published its annual overview report detailing its findings in children’s social services. The report highlights the findings of HIQA’s inspection, regulation and monitoring of children’s residential centres, special care units, foster care services, and child protection and welfare services operated by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) as well as at Oberstown Children Detention Campus. 

Across all services inspected, HIQA found that when children were allocated a social worker or other care worker, the quality of service delivered to them was strong. Overall, good levels of care and support were found across children’s services, with children and young people telling inspectors about improvements they had seen and how services were supporting them. However, challenges remain in the sector relating to the resourcing of services, from recruiting and retaining staff to sourcing suitable placements for children in care to live in.

The report captures the feedback and experiences of children and young people. It also details how it is increasingly apparent that there is a need to urgently build in additional capacity within children’s alternative care services (foster care, children’s residential centres and special care units) in order to ensure that there is a range of appropriate regulated placement types available to meet children’s specific needs. Some children are currently living in unregulated Special Emergency Arrangements and, while HIQA has no legal regulatory remit regarding these centres, it has consistently expressed concern about children and young people being placed in such arrangements that are outside of its regulatory remit.