Advocacy
24 Hour Child Campaign
24 Hour Child Campaign
“I’m a child 24 hours a day but only protected from 9-5”
There is no national 24 hour social work service in Ireland.
Overview of Campaign
The ISPCC have launched a campaign called 24 hour child which calls on the Government to establish a nationwide 24 hour child protection and welfare service in Ireland.
- Children and families in Ireland need support and protection on a 24 hour basis.
- Mental Health problems and child abuse are not isolated to the hours of 9-5, Monday to Friday.
- The ISPCC Childline service received 78% of calls outside the hours of 9-5, Monday to Friday.
- Three quarters of the child protection and welfare reports made by the ISPCC Childline service to the Gardai and Health Service Executive were as a result of calls received out of hours. These concerns included suicide, depression, physical and sexual abuse, neglect and homelessness.
Current Situation
Statutory child protection and welfare services operate on a 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday basis. Therefore any immediate child protection concern arising out of these operational hours is dealt with by An Garda Siochana. An Garda Siochana has a remit for crime prevention and whilst there is obviously a criminal element to child abuse, the complexities of child abuse, and in particular the time of initial assessment into an alleged incidence of child abuse, requires a specialist service as provided by the social work service of the HSE.
The HSE have recently announced that a number of emergency foster care placements will be available from June 2009 for children who are at immediate risk of harm outside of office hours. While this is a welcome development, the availability of social workers out of hours is also essential. While the availability of foster homes and beds will offer a place of safety for a child, it is not a long term solution and children who are brought into the care system should have access to a social worker, irrespective of the time of contact. A properly resourced 24 hour, professional social work service that includes both an early response mechanism, through which concerns are raised, and a crisis response mechanism to respond to emergency situations as they arise is required.
Following the Monageer report regarding the tragic deaths of the Dunne family, the Minister for Children announced that the building blocks for an out of hours service had been initiated. He stated that this would utilise existing out of hours services (such as G.P. and Gardai) and while the ISPCC favours an interagency, multidisciplinary approach to child protection and welfare, a social worker has to be part of this team from the outset as they have the training and skills to assess children who are at risk.
High profile cases include;
- The deaths of Sharon Grace and her two children in Wexford in 2005. This lady sought support just hours before she took her own life and the lives of her two children, but no supports were available to her.
- Leanne and Shania Dunne and their parents in Wexford 2007. There were concerns for this family following a visit by the parents to a local undertaker and while these concerns were passed on to local Gardai, there was no twenty four hour social work service available to offer support to this vulnerable family.
While these high profile cases are not indicative of the norm, there are countless other children, evident by the calls to Childline that experience abuse outside of office hours and these children urgently need protection. If we have twenty four hour services, families can be supported and abuse which escalates to high threshold levels can be reduced.
A significant number of children and young people are suffering depression, suicidal thoughts, drug and alcohol problems and homelessness. Most of these children do not have a twenty four hour social work service available to them. While An Garda Siochana have the power to intervene, a Garda station is no place for a vulnerable child who is at risk.
A child or young person should be able to seek support in their own right!
Current child support and child protection services are also restricted to operating within a model requiring adult consent before a child can utilise such services. If services are to effectively help and protect children and young people, they need to be able to use these services without adult consent if necessary as a child who has been abused by their parent or guardian is unlikely to seek (or get) consent from the person who is causing the abuse.
What needs to happen?
- Children need a fully operational, fully resourced, 24-hour child protection service that is directly accessible and child-centred in focus.
- Need legislation which place Children First Guidelines on a statutory footing.
- There needs to be a Referendum to insert children’s rights into our Constitution.
What can you do?
*The ISPCC (Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) is Ireland’s leading Independent Children’s Charity advocating for the rights, well-being and protection of children. Since its formation more than 100 years ago, the ISPCC has sought to develop and deliver innovative child centred services in a number of locations throughout Ireland. It does this by the provision of a range of national and local services so that, no matter where in Ireland a child lives, he or she can directly access one of ISPCC’s services i.e. Childline, Leanbh, ChildFocus, TeenFocus and Mentoring Support.