10,992 entries for Inspections - State

The Task Force on Child Care Services229 as it became known, was established with the following terms of reference: (1) to make recommendations on the extension and improvement of services for deprived children and children at risk; (2) to prepare a new Children’s Bill, updating and modernising the law in relation to children; (3) to make recommendations on the administrative reforms which may be necessary to give effect to proposals at (1) and (2) above.230

However, in relation to the first decision, no guidance as to the extent or nature of the ‘main responsibility’ to be given to the Minister for Health was provided and this was to adversely impact on both Ministerial and Departmental responsibility for different elements of the child welfare and juvenile justice for a further 30 years.

Before the decision was taken to establish a Task Force on Child Care Services, in August 1974 the Interdepartmental Committee on Mentally Ill and Maladjusted Persons published two interim reports. The first report was entitled Assessment Services for the Courts in Respect of Juvenile’ and the second The Provision of Treatment for Juvenile Offenders and Potential Juvenile Offenders. In respect of the first interim report, the primary recommendation of the Committee was that: There should be established, on a permanent basis, an inter-departmental committee to co-ordinate the activities of the Government Departments concerned in relation to children and young persons. Its aim should be to keep the changing needs of the situation under constant review, to advise on any further provisions – remedial, administrative, legislative or otherwise – which it considers, from time to time, to be necessary or desirable in relation to young persons who have come or are likely to come in conflict with the law or who may be in need of psychiatric treatment. It should also have the opportunity of expressing its opinion on the provisions of any projected legislation likely to have an impact on the personal or social well-being of young people.231

The Committee also reported that: It appears from enquiries made by the Committee that very little accurate information is available in regard to children and juveniles who appear before Irish Courts. In the absence of adequate information about themselves, their social background, the offences with which they are charged and the court decisions, it is very difficult to decide the nature and extent of the facilities requires’ and on this basis recommended the establishment of a ‘suitably staffed research and statistics unit as a matter of urgency.232

Crucially, the Committee recommended that children and juveniles should only be referred to a residential unit after a full assessment and that ‘existing legislation should be amended to permit remands to assessment centres for periods of up to 21 days where the court finds that necessary.’233 It also recommended the development of additional assessment centres as the Committee noted that the existing centre in Finglas was insufficient to meet the ongoing needs. In their second report the Committee recommended the expansion of the role of welfare officers to provide non-residential services for young offenders. In terms of residential services, the committee recommended the development of small residential homes, an additional Special School to be built for young male offenders, and a closed unit for male offenders and a special residential school for female offenders between the ages of 12 and 17.

After its establishment, the Task Force on Child Care Services sought submissions from interested parties. These submissions provide a useful snapshot of the views of various interest groups in the mid-1970s. In their submission to the Task Force on Child Care Services the Irish Association of Social Workers234, in relation to foster care argued that: There should be a recruiting programme for Foster Parents for temporary and long tern care and children with special needs. At present, there is no legal provision for short term Foster Care i.e. Mother in hospital, Father can’t cope – this provision could prevent a long term break down of the family. At present, children in such emergency situations are placed in Children’s Homes where they cannot have such personal attention. There should be no Age Limit for Foster Care. It is assumed that only babies and small children are suitable for foster care but we feel all ages require and would benefit from such a personal type service as offered through Foster Care. Rules should be made governing the standards of assessment of Foster parents and the quality of support necessary to Foster Parents, the Foster Child and the natural family. Allowance should be made for adequate remuneration to Foster parents. All Agencies arranging Foster Care should be encouraged to understand the team approach, i.e. that Foster Parents should be seen as important members of the team caring for the child.235

In relation to residential care, the Association argued: There should be increased and improved training facilities for staff of Residential Homes. There should be increased facilities for the emotional, educational and social assessment of each child as to define the most appropriate type of care for the child. This assessment unit will, of course, have to be Residential and we would need such units throughout the country. Each Health Board should have a wide range of residential facilities available to ensure that children are not placed away from their cultural background and natural family. These should include small group homes, Hostels, Homes for severely handicapped boys and girls, and homes for severely disturbed boys and girls. There should be as few as possible single sex homes. There should be an overall plan worked out for each child between the Agency placing the child and the Home. There should be regular reviews of the child’s progress, the suitability of the placement and the Child’s After Care at least annually. The Placing Agency and, where appropriate, the responsible Health Board Social Worker should be represented on this Review Board. There should be a registration of all Homes and regular inspection to maintain minimum standards of entrance and physical and emotional care which, at the same times, would give each home the chance to develop their own speciality.236

The Manager of the Magdalen Home in Sean MacDermott St in Dublin, Sr Lucy Bruton suggested the need for: A facility for young itinerant offenders, who are becoming legion and cannot be accommodated in the present institutions, because such units are entirely alien to their culture and upbringing. I suggest a section of the Itinerant Settlement Committee, who could be appointed as ‘Fit Persons’ to look after such offenders.237

The Social Workers of Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin, in their submission argued that: We feel that foster parents should be drawn from all stratas of society and that where possible the child should be placed with people of a similar background to his own. It is important that a child in a foster home should receive adequate stimulation, particularly in early years. In order to acquire the right type of foster parent we consider that it is an absolute necessity that they should receive adequate financial compensation: that it should be looked upon as a profession or career rather than a ‘vocation’ or doing a good deed as in the past.’238

As part of their submission to the Task Force, the Western Health Board reviewed a sample of cases in their two residential facilities, St Joseph’s School and St Anne’s and provides a detailed analysis of the changes that had taken place in these two Industrial Schools since the publication of the Kennedy Report. The report, authored by R O’Flaherty, concluded: Both institutions visited are making sincere efforts to put into effect the recommendations of the Kennedy Report and the CARE Memorandum. Small group living and eating arrangements are taking effect. Small, private bedrooms, in which family members live together, help to preserve the all important family connection. The elder children are thus readily available to give support to younger siblings, and the youngsters know that help is near from the older children. The staffs are obviously keenly interested in the welfare of the children charged to their care. Staff are in constant contact with the family in the home community, and I was impressed with the depth of their knowledge about home dynamics. I can see no reason why the group homes could not cater for both sexes. That said, the question still remains, why are these children in group homes? In only one case was a thorough pre-placement assessment done, with psychiatrist’s report recommending group home placement for a fixed time to provide needed controls. This treatment could just as well, I feel, have been provided in the child’s home community. One of the problem areas discovered, and one of the reasons why older children are placed residentially, is lack of ongoing casework services being available to foster home parents. With such help, foster parents could be aided in dealing with the child’s onset of adolescence (many manifestations of which are quite normal) while keeping him in the home....If at all possible, children should be allowed frequent visits to the natural family to both keep alive the family connection and to avoid over-identification with the institution which, in severe cases, may cause children to run back to the security they know, rather than try to get on in a new living arrangement...New foster parents should be recruited by arrangements being made more attractive to potential foster home parents and, of course, counselling should be available to such persons recruited.’239

In a separate submission replying to O’Flaherty’s report, the Manager of St Joseph’s Residential Home in Lower Salthill, Br DE Drohan, made the following observations on the reasons why the children were in residential care: The family structures and environment from which these children come from cannot supply the physical, emotional and psychological needs of the child. Most of the parents are very inadequate. Relationships between the parents are shallow and in some cases they are only co-existing. The relationship between the children and the parents before coming into residential care was often shallow and of little therapeutic value. This should have been very clear to Mr. Flaherty. We fail to see why it was necessary to ask this question. We can state that the group residential setting has helped improve the child/parent relationship. It is true that if long term case work backed up with in-depth social services had been given to these families there is the possibility that some of the children would not have come into residential care. But the hard fact must be faced that many of these parents are so damaged psychologically that they cannot give their children the love, concern, security and support that they need....We agree that every effort must be made to maintain the contact between the child and his parents. The parents should be allowed to visit the child frequently in the residential setting. Also the child should be allowed to visit his natural family frequently. The decision for this must rest with the professional child care worker after consulting other interested agencies. Serious ‘Stress’ can be put on the child who visits a home where the parents are suffering from psychiatric problems or where there are alcoholic parents / or a parent. This ‘stress’ can cause much disturbance to the child and retard the residential group home therapeutic programme. This is a point often missed by social workers.240

The Manager of the other Residential Home in the Western Health Board, St Ann’s Residential Home, Lenaboy, Taylor’s Hill, Sr M Veronica Walsh also commented on the report, noting: I fail to see how these children could be provided for in their own community even if special Education facilities were available as in Renmore. In most cases these children were emotionally disturbed prior to their admission and would require trained personnel to cater for their needs. I am not ruling out foster homes. There are exceptions but trained personnel are rarely found in such homes. We have personal experience in breakdown of foster homes, which leaves the children with a double rejection.241

The aforementioned Joint Committee of Women’s Societies and Social Workers also sent a detailed submission to the Task Force, noting: In the past, children have been too readily removed from their families. We are convinced that the appointment of a sufficient number of trained social workers would, quite often, prevent this happening. They, with their special skills, would detect some of the beginnings of family breakdown. With this in mind we have often recommended that school attendance officers should be trained social workers...we do not agree, however, that Residential Homes (Industrial Schools) should be broken up into self-contained units, as this only perpetuates the old institutional environment. The Joint Committee of Women’s Societies would oppose the spending of State funds in this make-do manner. We want something better for our children...We must cease to institutionalise our children. We recommend in order of preference: Fosterage, chosen and supervised by properly qualified Children’s Officers, and payment for services rendered by Foster Parents should relate to such payments now made to institutions....Single houses, in various Housing Estates should be made available when enough foster homes cannot be found. This kind of placement is especially valuable when children of one family are taken into care. Cost must not be made an excuse for this kind of placement.242

On the issue of juvenile justice, the Committee reiterated: our demand that the age of criminal responsibility should be raised to, at least, 12 years. We repeat also that changes must be made in the Court for children. We would suggest the Magistrates type of Court similar to the one used in England, but the Chairman must be qualified to deal with difficult children, and magistrates should be chosen from a Panel chosen from people with a wide experience of their problem. Free legal Aid should be readily available, and there must be an increase in the number of Probation Officers throughout the Republic.243

They also suggested an amendment to the Children Act 1908, as they argued: Managers of such schools should not have the power, given in the Children’s Act 1908, to transfer a child to another School without the Court’s sanction. The date stated for leaving should be strictly adhered to, and not as at present when girls have remained in convents for long periods until they have become unfit for re-emergence into society.244