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Over 80,000 Children Referred To Tusla Last Year

Wednesday, 19 July 2023 09:58

It is the highest figure on record.

Over 80,000 children were referred to Tusla last year, the highest figure on record.

According to figures released to Aontú, the majority of cases were in relation to child welfare concerns, followed by emotional and physical abuse.

Despite the record figures, just over 1,000 children have been admitted to care over the last FIVE years in the Dublin Mid-Leinster region, which includes Laois, Offaly and Westmeath.

And Aontú Leader and Meath West TD Peadar Toibín says the lack of support for the service is to blame for that:

The child and family agency says 500 new social workers are required every year to deal with the staffing crisis. 

Tusla's annual report - the first to be published under its new CEO Kate Duggan - comes days after the State agency acknowledged that it was in a crisis. 

At the end of 2022, 22,033 cases were open to social work nationally, with 72% of these allocated to a social worker, while the remaining 28% were awaiting allocation. 

There were 5,755 children in the care of the agency at the end of last year, which was 108 fewer than in 2021, and 89% of those children were in foster care. 

The agency says "recruitment of sufficient numbers of foster carers remains a significant challenge, and when leavers are considered, there were 75 fewer foster carers than were approved in 2022".

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