By Stephen Rogers
28-10-2010
It said it accepted in full the findings and recommendations of the inquiry team on the "clear service failures" by the then Western Health Board up to the time the children were taken into care in 2004.
"The inquiry team notes that the "voices" of the six children were not heard in this case over the years," it said. "By not hearing directly the concerns of the children, the services could not respond fully to their needs."
The HSE said that following the inquiry team’s recommendations, it would shortly issue professional practice guidance to ensure that children and their views are central to any assessment and intervention regarding their wellbeing.
Children’s Minister Barry Andrews offered his apology to each of the six children for the failure of state services to respond properly to their needs. "The children were clearly failed over an extended period and their voices were not heard prior to being taken into stare care in 2003 and 2004," he said.
"State interventions focused on the needs of parents and not the children. The report raises many questions, not least why concerns of ongoing neglect did not lead to decisive action at an earlier stage.
The report found, with one exception, that the children’s needs were not subject to a formal assessment, staff were not sufficiently alert to indicators of ongoing neglect and reports of neglect did not trigger an appropriate response."
Fiona Neary, RCNI director said the report revealed "systemic flaws" in the state’s handling of child protection and said the consequence had been serious abuse and neglect.
"Whilst welcoming the apology by the HSE, it is essential for children in Ireland that the recommendations in this report are fully implemented," she said. "The audit of cases of child neglect currently in the HSE system is urgently required, as is the nomination and adequate resourcing of the office of the National Director for Child and Family Services with the remit set out in this report."
One in Four executive director Maeve Lewis said the report was the latest in a series concerning abuse within the family, stretching back to the Kilkenny incest case.
"Each Report made sensible recommendations, most of which have never been implemented," she said. "This must stop. As a society, we must demand that the recommendations of the Ryan Report and the Family Report be acted on immediately."
Fergus Finlay, chief executive of Barnardos said the report chronicled not only the sad history of abuse and neglect, but also the "ongoing and complete" failure on the part of the HSE to in any way adequately respond to the needs of children who were left at risk of very serious harm for too many years. "How many more times does it need to be categorically proved that the Children First child protection guidelines must be put on a statutory footing?" he said. "This report is yet another damning indictment of what can happen to children when child protection practice is ad hoc and based on weak systems that fail to put the child’s voice at the centre of the work involved. Government must make immediate moves to rectify this and finally put legislation in place that will standardise good practice in child protection work across Ireland."
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten