The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published two inspection reports on the foster care services operated by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) in the Galway Roscommon and Dublin North service areas. 

HIQA is authorised by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth under Section 69 of the Child Care Act 1991, as amended by Section 26 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, to inspect foster care services provided by Tusla and to report on its findings to the Minister, and to inspect services taking care of a child on behalf of Tusla, including non-statutory providers of foster care. HIQA monitors foster care services against the National Standards for Foster Care (2003).

HIQA conducted inspections of foster care services in the Galway Roscommon and Dublin North service areas in August 2024. These inspections examined the promotion of children’s rights and considered the quality of children’s assessments of need, and how these assessments informed the matching of children with foster carers. In addition, they assessed how children are protected from abuse and neglect and also looked at the management and monitoring of the foster care service and the availability of a range of suitable foster carers. 

Of the six standards assessed, the Galway Roscommon service area was found to be compliant with two, substantially compliant with three and not compliant with one. In the Dublin North service area, inspectors found the service to be compliant with two standards, substantially compliant with two and not compliant with two.

In both services, inspectors found that children’s rights were respected and promoted. Children were encouraged to participate in decisions about their lives and told inspectors that they been informed of their rights and knew how to make a complaint about any aspect of their care that they might be unhappy about. The services made efforts to ensure the best possible match for children and foster carers where possible. However, the national shortage of foster carers meant that finding the best suitable match for children could be difficult at times. 

In addition, matching documentation was not always available on file for all children placed in both services. This meant that a clear picture for the rationale for matching decisions was not consistently evident on children’s records. Safeguarding practices, particularly the vetting and re-vetting of foster carers and adult members of their household in both service areas, required improvement. In addition, improvements were required to ensure foster carers completed Children First National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children 2017 training in a timely manner in Dublin North.

In Galway Roscommon, while the governance arrangements and management structures in place were clearly defined, improvements were needed to ensure learnings from audits and action plans were consistently implemented, and that performance data was accurately reported. 

In Dublin North, HIQA found that the governance, risk management systems and information governance required significant improvement in order to ensure the delivery of a safe service to children in foster care. Improvements were also required in quality assurance systems regarding timely action from audits and the updating of children’s files on Tusla’s case management system to support effective oversight of the service provision and risk.