Our Children’s Team has completed its final inspection focusing on foster care, which it has been carrying out across the Child and Family Agency’s (Tulsa’s) 17 service areas.
The final inspection in this current foster care inspection programme took place in Tusla’s Donegal Service Area. A report of the inspection will be published on our website in due course.
Our Children’s Team has also inspected six private foster care services, in which children are placed by Tusla (Care Visions, Oak Lodge, Foster Care Ireland, the Orchard Children Fostering Services, Five Rivers Ireland and Fostering First Ireland).
A number of inspection reports on these services are now available to view on our website. This programme of inspection focuses on the assessment, approval, training, and support and supervision of foster carers.
As outlined in the last HIQA News update, a follow-up foster care programme is also underway in each of the four Tusla regional areas: West, South, Dublin North East, and Dublin Mid-Leinster.
Inspections have also taken place in three of the country’s four special care units. These inspections are, for the first time, to inform a registration decision of these services by HIQA.
In line with the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, HIQA has 12 months from commencement of this legislation to register the four special care units — meaning that all of the special care units must be registered by 31 December 2018.
So far this year, we have also completed 12 monitoring inspections of children’s residential centres, and an inspection of Oberstown Children’s Detention Campus. All published inspection reports are available on our website, www.hiqa.ie.
For more on the work of the Children’s Team during 2017, see our new Overview of HIQA regulation of social care and healthcare services 2017.