The Government is mulling a complete overhaul of the system by which children at risk of serious harm can be placed in secure accommodation on foot of a court order. There are 26 beds in the secure special care units dedicated to housing these children but only 15 are currently operating.
Consequently, children are often housed in emergency accommodation until a bed in a unit becomes available. This in turn depends on the availability of a place in an appropriate step-down facility. These are also in short supply and according to Tusla, the child and family agency, are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
The Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman, has been told by officials that the system “may no longer be fit for purpose”. This is clearly something of an understatement. The system is broken.
The underlying problem is a shortage of social workers who are qualified and willing to work in special care units. Turnover is high and retention is a serious problems. Some 174 staff working in special care have left in the last three years while 168 have been recruited.
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These figures reflect the very demanding nature of working with traumatised and often violent children and the refusal to date of the Department of Public Expenditure to sanction additional payments for staff who work in these centres.
Special care units are a small and specialised area in social services but the problems being encountered there speak to the wider issue of recruitment in the area of social work and the value attributed to the profession. In the region of 250 social workers qualify each year. The Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) estimates that double that number is needed to meet demand.
Individuals who are attracted to a career in social work face significant barriers. Finances, lack of housing, and the wider cost-of-living crisis are obstacles facing those considering social work as a profession. So is the requirement that trainee social workers complete 1,000 hours of unpaid placements. Many colleges cannot fill all the places on their social work courses as a result, according to the school of social policy at UCD.
Several initiatives to boost numbers have been taken by individual organisations but there is no single overarching national strategy to address the problem, according to the IASW. Devising and implementing a plan would require a cross-departmental approach and clarity as to which minister is responsible for its delivery, they believe.
The overhaul of the special care services currently being mooted by the Department of Children is clearly a priority, but the wider issues of social worker training also needs to be addressed urgently. The co-ordinated approach suggested by the IASW is worthy of consideration.