The health watchdog has found delays by Tusla in notifying the national vetting service could have left alleged abusers in Kerry working and volunteering with children.
The Health Information and Quality Authority conducted a focused inspection of Tusla’s Child Abuse Substantiation Procedure for Kerry during September last year.
The service was assessed across five standards, and was found to be not compliant with two of the five.
Inspectors said they didn’t have the opportunity to speak directly to children and their families, but a review of files identified concerns with the potential impact of the Child Abuse Substantiation Procedure, or CASP, on their lives.
Inspectors found significant delays in the progression of cases through the CASP for children who were alleged victims of abuse, including a delay of two years for progression since referral for one child, while some families received no communication about why these delays occurred.
HIQA noted there was limited or delayed communication on a significant number of CASP cases, and individual communication needs were not always recognised or supported.
These delays impacted the ability of Tusla to act in a timely way to progress safeguarding actions for children who may be at risk.
HIQA found there was also limited management oversight of the progression of CASP cases.
Not all children identified as alleged abuse victims were safeguarded, and consideration was not given in one case to the safeguarding of an alleged abuser’s own children.
In other cases, HIQA says notifications of alleged abusers to the National Vetting Bureau were not always considered or progressed in a timely manner, meaning alleged abusers who posed a potential risk to children could continue to receive garda vetting and continue working and volunteering with children.
Risk was not always appropriately identified and managed at an individual and system level.
Staff told inspectors the workload when the initial referral comes in was onerous, while additional staff resources were required.
The CASP is moving towards what was described as a network structure, and will eventually be delivered on a regional basis across the southwest instead of in the county of Kerry, which is hoped will help address the issue of resources.
Staff were praised by HIQA for being child-centred in their approach to progressing cases, and ensuring fair procedures and due process for the alleged abusers.
