Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse
The Irish Foster Care Association was invited to submitt their recommendations regarding the Ryan Report to the implimentation group. IFCA choose to keep its response to the sections relevent to foster care.
Response to the Recommendations of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse Report
June 2009
2 | A memorial should be erected. |
Implementation of the recommendations of the Ryan report, together with the responses and proposals from relevant organisation could create a living memorial and live legacy to the victims in preventing any child from suffering systemic or institutional abuse as identified in the report.
3 | The lessons of the past should be learned. |
In removing a child from their family the State, in loco parentis, assumes an extra responsibility to provide for and protect the rights of that child. It is a basic right of every child in care to have a social worker assigned to their case. This is essential to ensure that the welfare and needs of the child are safeguarded.
4 | Counselling and educational services should be available. |
Foster carers should not have to fight for the needs of the children placed in their care. Professional health, educational and psychological services should be accessible, funded and supported by the Health Service
8 | A method of evaluating the extent to which services meet the aims and objectives of the national childcare policy should be devised. |
A longitudinal study needs to be commissioned immediately to assess the educational, social and emotional outcomes of children in the care system. Experiences of children placed in foster care need to be monitored and recorded and used to influence future national childcare policy
9 | The provision of childcare services should be reviewed on a regular basis. |
The National Standards for foster care state that foster carers should be reviewed one year after first placement and at three yearly intervals thereafter. This is not standardised practice throughout the country. In many HSE regions fostering reviews are generally held as crisis reaction to an allegation or complaint against the foster carers. A consistent and systematic approach to fostering reviews from an adequately resourced social work team would be better positioned to protect the rights of the child in care and the foster care providers.
11 | A culture of respecting and implementing rules and regulations and of observing codes of conduct should be developed. |
Every child in care has a right to a current care plan. This document should be respected and its implementation monitored by an independent source. Deviations from the recommendations in the care plan should not be possible without the formality and process of holding a further child in care review.
12 | Independent inspections are essential. |
The Social Services Inspectorate needs to be adequately resourced to support independent inspections of foster homes on a broader scale. The service needs to be full developed so that weaknesses in the service are identified and the implementation of recommendations becomes obligatory.
13 | Management at all levels should be accountable for the quality of services and care. |
Inconsistencies across HSE regions and within social work teams are not conducive to accountability or quality services. A standardised and transparent approach to practice and implementation of policy and regulations across all HSE regions and within social work teams should be guaranteed.
14 | Children in care should be able to communicate concerns without fear. |
The social worker is the official link between the foster child, the HSE and the State. Every child should have the opportunity to develop a trusting relationship with their social worker. Effective communication and support is only possible with regular contact and commitment. A high turnover of social workers has a detrimental effect on the child's capacity to develop secure relationships within the Health Service.
15 | Childcare services depend on good communication. |
Good communication promotes openness and trust. Every foster family should have an opportunity to develop a trusting relationship with a link social worker. They should have regular fostering reviews as standard to ensure a forum for any concerns or issues and also to reassess their current needs and family circumstances relative to the provision of foster care. All foster carers should have a right to access an independent support and mediation service such as that provided by the Irish Foster Care Association, to ensure a continuity of communication between the health service and themselves when difficulties arise.
16 | Children in care need a consistent care figure. |
Children in foster care are experiencing multiple placements and unnecessary trauma from placement breakdown. It is vital that a ‘pool' of trained and approved foster carers are established and a comprehensive selection process undertaken to match the greatest needs of the child to the greatest strengths of the carers.
Every effort must be made to secure and support existing foster placements through consistent involvement and monitoring by link workers and social workers.
Early intervention is essential to support and prevent placement breakdown. Movement of children within the foster care system should only occur when it is deemed absolutely necessary for the well-being and safety of the child.
17 | Children who have been in State care should have access to support services. |
An after care plan is a basic right of all children who have been in the care of the State. Of particular concern to the Irish Foster Care Association are the young people who do not enter third level education, apprenticeships or employment. Young people who have experienced childhood trauma may have delayed emotional and social maturation. Foster carers are ideally positioned and should be supported to continue to provide for the needs and welfare of the young person until they are in a position to lead independent lives.
The development of a comprehensive ‘out of hours' social work service, that is easily accessed and does not necessitate children being inappropriately detained in Garda stations or hospitals needs to be kept on the agenda in order to protect and safeguard the rights of the child and to support and protect foster carers.
19 | Children in care should not, save in exceptional circumstances, be cut off from their families. |
Children are growing up in care without sufficient opportunity to develop relationships with their siblings and extended families. Extra resources are needed to support foster carers who are in a position to provide care for sibling groups.
Responsibility for facilitating access needs to be shared between the foster carers and the health service. The focus needs to be on promoting positive access arrangements for children in care and their families and not governed and restricted by funding limitations.
20 | The full personal records of children in care must be maintained. |
Communication and co-operation between social workers, foster carers and the birth family of children in care should be encouraged and facilitated to ensure accurate recording of personal information pertaining to the child and their family. The child in care review provides an ideal opportunity to monitor and assess the factual and current details contained in personal records.