Tusla welcomes positive HIQA report in to Mid West children's residential facility
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has welcomed this week's publication of a HIQA inspection report on a children’s residential centre in the Mid-West.
Of nine standards inspected, eight were found to be compliant or substantially compliant and one was found to be non-compliant.
The inspection report noted that the centre had a warm, positive and child centred environment, with children’s art and messages displayed around the premises.
Children in the centre received good quality care with one child saying: "It’s like my second home".
The views of the children were listened to, and they had positive and warm interactions with the staff, who one child described as "absolutely amazing’"
Speaking about the report, Donal McCormack, National Service Director, Residential Childcare Services, Tusla said: “We are pleased to receive positive feedback from this report, confirming the dedication and commitment of the staff working here. We are focussed on creating a positive and welcoming environment for the children and young people who stay here. Short-term respite care helps support children who live at home with their parents or who live in foster care, and can also help to prevent placement breakdown.
We recognise that there are areas to improve, and work is ongoing to deal with issues arising from restrictive practices to ensure there are clear plans in place to reduce or eliminate this practice.”
The respite care arrangements are flexible and work around meeting the needs of the children. Foster carers described the staff as "great support" and that the children were "benefiting hugely".
The connections with family networks and foster carers are supported with regular updates. The report also noted that there are clear and effective management structures where roles, responsibilities and lines of reporting are clearly outlined.
The centre promotes the safety and wellbeing of children and there are clear systems in place to ensure concerns about children are reported in line with Children First.
Developments are underway to look at services and interventions offered to children under the age of five, so that younger siblings can also be accommodated.
Tusla receives consistent and high quality regulation and oversight, by various external bodies including HIQA. This oversight assists us in ensuring that our practices deliver good quality, timely and appropriate interventions and services for children and families.
Provision of alternative care for some children is very complex due to the level of trauma they have experienced in their lives. Improving the quality of that care set against high standards and regulation is a continuous process, and while we are aware that we have further work to do, the positive findings in this report are most welcome.