VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN Tusla care are spending years in unregulated emergency accommodation, even though these placements are supposed to be temporary.

Tusla inspection reports of Special Emergency Arrangements (SEA) obtained by The Journal Investigates over a six-month period reveal that some children have spent years in these unregulated settings, sometimes moving multiple times.

Among the findings were instances of blocked fire escapes, locked first aid boxes, young people not allocated a social worker and children being moved from one SEA to another.

These placements are typically used for children in crisis, where a previous placement or home has broken down, and they are in need of emergency care.

They exist as a result of a lack of suitable alternatives in the regulated care system and are supposed to be temporary.

But our investigation found that one teenager nearing their 18th birthday was close to spending three-and-a-half years in an SEA, while another young child had multiple placements, which included three SEAs.

These SEAs are sometimes in private rented accommodation, hotels and B&Bs due to the lack of regular placements.

One inspection report obtained by our team revealed that one young child was being housed in a “holiday/activity centre”.

According to the report, “the child indicated that they wanted to go outside to the beach by regularly pointing at the beach and making swimming gestures with their arms.”

At a different SEA, the landlord would not allow any posters or pictures to be hung on the wall and at another, a child had to travel approximately 50km to get to school.

The use of these placements has been criticised by the Ombudsman for Children and some children’s charities.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) also lacks the oversight powers to inspect SEAs.

A spokesperson for the regulatory body told our team, “Hiqa has no legal regulatory remit regarding these centres,” adding that they have “previously expressed concern about children and young people being placed in SEAs” because they are outside of its regulatory remit.

Wayne Stanley, chief executive officer for EPIC [Empowering People In Care], told The Journal Investigates the findings in the inspection reports were “wholly unacceptable”.

The Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon, added that the findings were “very concerning” but didn’t come as a surprise, saying he’d heard similar complaints from children in these types of placements.

A spokesperson for Tusla told The Journal Investigates that there has been a “significant increase in demand for residential services,” adding that they are working to reduce their reliance on SEAs.

They also said they are “working with SEA providers to support existing SEAs to transition into a regulated environment, aligning with national standards and providing greater assurance of quality, safety and consistency for children and young people.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Children echoed Tusla’s statement, adding that they are “working closely with Tusla to ensure the promotion of safety and quality of SEAs, while the agency seeks to reduce its reliance on these placements.”

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Children spending years in SEAs

Inspection reports obtained by The Journal Investigates under Freedom of Information reveal that several children have spent years in SEAs, sometimes moving between different placements.

The inspections were conducted by Tusla’s Practice Assurance and Service Monitoring Team and cover a six-month period.

One young person under the age of 12 had been through multiple placements, according to an inspection report our team reviewed.

This child had previously stayed at three SEAs and moved to this placement a few days before the inspection took place.

But days after the inspectors left, this young person was moved once again to another SEA.

Stanley told our team, “multiple [SEA] placements is an antithesis to good practice.”

“Being moved to multiple locations means there’s constant disruption in [a child’s] life,” he said. “You also have to think about their capacity to go to school, to engage with their peers, to build relationships.”

A spokesperson for Tusla said, “there are a number of reasons which may contribute to placement changes for the young person, including the changing needs of [a] young person.”

Stanley also said he has come across instances where children are moved across county lines that are covered by different Tusla regions.

Our team requested information from Tusla on how many children in SEAs have been moved across county lines, but we were told this “data is not collated nationally in an efficient manner”.

“At all times, the [regional] areas would know where the young person is placed,” they added.

Stanley said the lack of a national tracker may prevent Tusla from identifying where the pressure points in the system are.

But he also said that bringing in such a tracker might mean SEA placements – which are supposed to be an emergency measure – “become embedded in the system”.

SEA placements “are not designed to be long-term”, according to the inspection reports, but several children were found to have been in SEAs since 2023, sometimes across multiple placements.

Our investigation also found one teenager who “will by their eighteenth birthday have lived in SEAs for 3.5 years”.

Efforts to find a regulated placement that could meet this young person’s needs were noted by the inspectors, but ultimately were unsuccessful due to a lack of available alternative placements.

A spokesperson for Tusla said, “our priority is always to transition each young person to an appropriate regulated placement as soon as possible.”

They added that “in a small number of cases” it may be in the best interest of the young person to remain in SEAs “for a longer period”.

Another child living in an SEA attended school approximately 50km away from where they were living.

Our team asked Tusla why this was the case, but a spokesperson declined to comment on individual cases.

They added, “we aim to place young people as close as possible to their community and school; however, with demand for placements we are challenged, and this is not always possible.”

Unsuitable living arrangements

In addition to children spending years in these placements, the inspections found that, in many cases, the accommodation was deemed unsuitable.

A young child was being housed in a “holiday/activity centre” that lacked significant safeguards, according to the inspection report.

For example, a fire exit was blocked to prevent the child from leaving the premises. The inspectors said that this “should cease immediately”.

There was no evidence of information on child protection, child welfare or safeguarding in the arrangement, and while there were two first aid boxes on the premises, staff told inspectors that they didn’t have a key for either box. The report added:

The child indicated that they wanted to go outside to the beach by regularly pointing at the beach and making swimming gestures with their arms.

But the child wasn’t brought outside due to “a lack of a clear risk assessment and plan to support this”.

Stanley was critical of the fact that staff working in this placement didn’t have the key to the first aid box at the time of the inspection.

He continued, “we know these buildings aren’t going to be perfect, but there has to be a minimum standard.”

This child was later moved to the care of another SEA provider.

These placements also included SEAs that were in privately rented accommodation.

At one location, the window in the bedroom did not have a secure child lock, and the landlord advised that they would not be willing to fit one.

This meant that staff had to conduct checks to ensure the window was locked. When it was opened for air, the child wasn’t allowed to be in their room alone.

The same landlord would not allow items to be displayed or hung on the walls, including Tusla’s informational posters that guide the children living in the SEA on making a complaint about their living conditions.

A Tusla spokesperson said their inspection reports “focus on identifying any immediate safety concerns, evaluating consistency of care, and directing providers to make specific improvements where necessary.”

Children left without social workers

In a number of inspection reports, children living in SEAs had not been allocated a social worker by Tusla due to staffing constraints.

Dr Muldoon, the Children’s Ombudsman, told The Journal Investigates it’s “absolutely vital” that every child in care is allocated a social worker. “[They] are the bulwark…they ensure professionalism, security, [and] safety,” he added.

Stanley also told our team that every child in care should have a social worker. He said:

The right social worker can have a transformative effect on the young person’s life. So not being able to provide a social worker means we’re missing that opportunity.

A spokesperson for Tusla told The Journal Investigates that all young people in SEAs “have an allocated worker, which may be a social worker, or another dedicated professional, under the governance and oversight of a social worker.”

The inspection reports also show how one of the main providers of SEAs to Tusla did not provide a person in charge to oversee the placement.

Instead, a Social Care Leader with governance responsibility for several SEAs visited on a weekly basis.

Inspection reports for MCMA SEAs detail that this provider left staff without any professional oversight for extended periods and a limited governance structure.

One inspection found that these visits by the Social Care Leader were “process driven” and “did not improve the care provided to the children in the SEA”.

Comet Care Limited, trading as MCMA, was paid in excess of €7.5 million in 2024 for “independent placement provision”, which includes SEA services, according to Tusla’s annual report.

The inspection reports show MCMA have engaged with Tusla to address the governance issues highlighted and provide more direct oversight of the SEAs.

MCMA did not respond to requests for comment from our team.

Responding to our investigation, Stanley said, “I don’t ever stop being shocked by this stuff, and I don’t think we ever should be.”

He added that “children who’ve had the trauma of having to come into the care system deserve the highest standards of care, and we should never lose sight of that.”

Muldoon said that the money spent on these SEAs is, in his opinion, “continuing in a vicious cycle” where there aren’t enough regulated places, requiring the need for SEAs, which he said takes away from resources that could be used to move away from this system of care.

“We need to stand up for our children and say they deserve the best possible arrangements, even when it is an emergency,” he added.

The Journal Investigates

Reporter: Conor O’Carroll • Editor: Noel Baker • Social Media: Cliodhna Travers • Main Image Design: Lorcan O’Reilly