LAST UPDATE | 8 Jan

A LARGE GROUP of senior social workers in Tusla wrote to the CEO to say that plans for a six-week timeline to put in place major organisation-wide reforms by 1 January could put children at “significant risk of harm”.

More than one hundred principal social workers, who hold senior leadership roles in the agency, wrote to Tusla CEO Kate Duggan late last year to say that the deadline for bringing in the changes needed to be pushed back.

The Social Democrats have called on Tusla to now confirm if it fully went ahead with its reform programme despite concerns being raised by staff, and said that “huge questions remain about the nature and scale of this reform programme”. 

Tusla’s big reform programme saw the organisation’s teams and management structures change completely from the start of this year.

Where once Tusla operated across 17 areas in six regions, teams are now organised across 30 different areas; Tusla says this change will allow it to fulfil staffing needs according to demand in different parts of the country.

Raising a series of concerns, the frontline senior staff said that they were not being given enough time to talk to “children, families and foster carers” about the changes, including those whose cases would have to be transferred, which has happened mid-assessment in some cases. 

The letter says that for the 110 children in care whose cases are being transferred, it would take ten hours of work per transfer, which amounts to around 1,100 hours of work in total or 31 dedicated weeks. 

That would require eight months rather than six weeks, they argued. 

They also said that widespread vacancies need to be addressed first before any other changes are brought in.

Tusla’s reform programme plans to create leadership roles at network and team level within its new local integrated teams.

However Tusla hasn’t yet published a list of all new positions that will be needed, or outlined the number of vacancies that will exist within the new teams.

Tusla CEO Kate Duggan mentioned the plans while appearing before the Oireachtas Children’s Committee at the end of November, where there was little public scrutiny or discussion; politicians on the committee were focused on high-profile issues related to the agency and there was just one question on how the new structure would work.

The agency says that the reforms are part of bringing Tusla into the modern day, with a full digital record for each child to be introduced. 

In the letter to Kate Duggan, the principal social workers say that they have already explained their concerns to senior management and not received timely responses. They described this as “extremely disappointing”. 

Tusla says that it has communicated and consulted with staff and stakeholders throughout its 2024-2026 reform programme, and that it has also engaged with union representatives. 

Tusla also said that correspondence to Kate Duggan’s office has been replied to. 

The senior Tusla workers sent the letter to her on 11 November to outline their serious concerns about the timeline and scale of changes being made to the organisation, and noted that they were still in the dark about key aspects of the plan and how it would work.

The senior workers said that to implement all the planned changes by 1 January would “put children at significant risk of harm to complete this within the proposed timeframe”.

Tusla told The Journal that it has sought to keep case transfers to a minimum, but did not say how many children are being allocated a new social worker, and how many mid-assessment children are being transferred to a new team.

The agency also said that it has since allowed for a two-month transition period for the transfer of cases, but it’s not clear when this was implemented and how many transfers still have to be made. 

It’s understood that a quality review of the transfer process is planned.

The letter highlighted staffing levels and a lack of clarity on who would be responsible for what under the new structure as another major source of concern.

Clarity on whether teams would have the same business supports, training for those taking on new roles, and clarity on how the courts will accommodate professionals and parents regarding childcare cases that change region are all issues raised.

“Are the courts aware this is happening?” the letter asks.

They demanded that necessary principal social worker, team leader and social worker posts be put in place and that vacancies be filled.

The group asked for clarity on who would be supervising the agency’s prevention, partnership and family support teams until team lead positions are filled.

One source told The Journal there are serious concerns among senior staff that the transition has been “unplanned” and “rushed”.

They said that senior workers believe it is being pushed through as key figures within the organisation want it to be seen that Tusla is “doing something” after a year of high profile tragedies involving children which the agency has at one time been engaged with, or children who were in care.

A source said they were concerned that in the current climate of “serious incidents, missing children, and deaths” there are concerns that children “are not the focus of this reform”.

Another source said that though social workers have raised that they will be working under new systems without having necessary posts filled, this has been “ignored” up until December.

Social Democrats call for clarity

Children Spokesperson for the Social Democrats Aidan Farrelly has said that it is “hugely concerning that principal social workers had such grave concerns mere weeks before this reform programme was set to be rolled out.” 

He said that it is “completely unacceptable that so many questions remain about organisational reforms of this scale which could have profoundly negative impacts”. 

Farrelly called for the CEO of Tusla to respond to these concerns publicly and provide clarifications about the reforms that have taken place. 

“It’s crucial that any clarification is detailed and  considered and that resourcing and timelines are clearly outlined and appropriate,” he added.

The Journal has asked Tusla how many team leader and other positions in the new designated areas are vacant, and has not received an answer by the time of publication, however Tusla did say it has carried out extensive analysis and workforce planning.