Paul Murphy warns of crisis in Tusla care and youth homelessness
Paul Murphy questioned the Taoiseach about a crisis affecting children in Tusla's care and families experiencing homelessness. He said staff shortages, unqualified cover, and a lack of accommodation for care leavers are producing serious and avoidable harm.
Immediate concerns
He recounted speaking to a 16-year-old who had been in care for about 10 years and now lives with his grandmother. The young man had strong supports until his social worker left about a year ago; the replacement promised in weeks never arrived and he has since been managed by a part-time, unqualified worker. The gap in qualified social work support has affected supervised visits with his mother and the young person's overall stability.
Staffing and service capacity
Murphy highlighted wider staffing problems, saying the children in care team is operating at about 30% capacity. He also said pressures that have affected nurses and teachers are now impacting social workers, especially in Dublin, reducing the ability of services to provide consistent support.
Accommodation for care leavers
He warned that roughly 500 children a year turn 18 and leave care and that a large number of those go straight into homeless services. He said there is very little proper accommodation for people emerging from care, leaving many care leavers at risk of homelessness.
Homelessness figures and government measures
Murphy cited recent figures showing approximately 1,600 families in emergency accommodation, about half of them one-parent families with just over 3,000 child dependents. He referenced the Housing for All plan and government commitments to multi-agency early intervention, prioritising families exiting homelessness and preventing families from entering it. He noted that £215 million, a 10 per cent budget increase, has been allocated this year to local authorities and NGOs for homeless prevention services, and that the government is aiming to create 1,300 new Housing First tenancies while the programme office focuses on prevention and transition out of homelessness.
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I would ask the Taoiseach about the crisis that is facing many children who are in Tusla's care. I spoke to a very impressive young man a couple of weeks ago, a 16-year-old, who was in care. He has been in care for about 10 years. He lived with his mother for the first five or six years of his life. Then he was taken into care. He is currently 16 and he lives with his grandmother. He said that up until he was about 15 and a half, the service he had from Tusla was amazing. He always had a social worker, very supportive, but about a year ago, his social worker left him. He was told that it would only take a couple of weeks for the social worker to be replaced, but the social worker has still not been replaced. Instead, he has gotten a part-time social worker who is not a qualified social worker and is not able to give the same support that a social worker is able to give and the support he is supposed to get. It is even affecting his ability to have visits with his mother. They have to be supervised visits, but the absence of staff has meant that it has been a difficulty to get visits. This is apparently not an isolated case. The children in care team is operating at about 30% capacity. The same issues would seem in terms of nurses and teachers are now affecting social workers, particularly in Dublin. There is another issue with the accommodation. 500 children a year who turn 18 and come out of care and a big number of those go straight into homeless services. There is very little proper accommodation for people who are emerging from care. In relation to children experiencing homelessness, the most recent figures, as deputies will know, show that approximately 1,600 families are in emergency accommodation. About half of those are one-parent families with just over 3,000 child dependents. In the vast majority of cases, it is for a matter of months, but in some cases, it is for longer than that. The government recognises that helping families and children experiencing homelessness involves a multi-agency approach. Housing for all, the government's housing plan, is committed to the enhancement of early intervention services for children and their families through a multi-agency and coordinated response. That includes prioritising exiting families from homelessness, preventing families from going into homelessness in the first place, and providing sufficient help for families experiencing homelessness. It is important to say that £215 million, a 10 per cent increase in budget has been allocated for this year, and that is allocated to local authorities and NGOs. That is there to provide homeless prevention services, because that is the most cost-effective way of dealing with this issue, preventing homelessness in the first place. We are also providing emergency accommodation and other services for families experiencing homelessness, and our target is to create 1,300 new Housing First Tenancies. The programme office will also provide a focus on how other assistants can assist in preventing homelessness and helping those in homeless services to transition out. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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