TUSLA IS DEFUNDING a therapy service in Waterford and Wexford that supports child sexual abuse victims as a core element of their work, in addition to helping children transition into new care settings. 

The decision has been made as part of the child and family agency’s national restructuring ‘reform’ programme. 

The therapeutic service in Waterford and Wexford has been funded by Tusla for the last eight years.

Three staff members on the team work under Tusla line managers in Tusla’s offices, but technically they are employed by a local family resource centre through a service level agreement (SLA). 

Two other roles on the team funded through the SLA have been left empty after staff members exited the team last year, which is when “alarm bells” started going off for remaining employees. 

A staff member employed through the SLA told The Journal they are fighting for the survival of the service, which they said provides “crucial” help for children and families across the region every year. 

They said they were especially worried about the impact the cuts could have on children who are working with therapists as part of the process involved in reporting sexual abuse they experienced prior to being in care.

Staff are worried about children in this cohort not getting this additional support in the future, as they fear that therapy will now be outsourced to private providers, and are aware that there is already a shortage of such providers in the region.

‘Very strange’

The staff members in question are technically employed by the St Brigid’s Family and Community Centre. 

However, the staff member who spoke to The Journal said that they only met with management from St Brigid’s years ago at the start of their employment, and then recently on 6 February in a meeting where they were told that Tusla was defunding their role and the service. 

A Forsa union representative said that it is “very strange” that Tusla is defunding a therapeutic service as part of a reform programme that pledges to increase access to therapeutic services for children in care. 

The Wexford and Waterford based team consists of three play therapists and two social care leads who are employed by St Brigid’s. 

Additionally the team has a manager, a nurse and an adolescent psychotherapist who are employed by Tusla. 

As Tusla has said that the service as a whole is ending, The Journal has asked if there will be any change in employment for the team members it directly employs. 

A staff member told The Journal that the departure of one therapist and one social care lead last year was due to the lack of equal benefits that come with being employed through an SLA. 

The team works with children who have been placed in foster and residential care in order to help them adjust. 

“The whole idea of it is that they don’t have to figure it all out by themselves,” a staff member said. 

“We also go into schools and work with teachers and SNAs to talk about trauma-informed practice training, so that would be when there are children in the school who have had a particularly difficult time,” they added.

They have said that despite multiple requests to Tusla they have not been informed as to when the service is wrapping, so they have not been able to give full clarity to the children and families that they are engaged with currently. 

A Forsa spokesperson said that the union is engaged on the workers’ behalf. 

“We’ve seen no evidence that anything is being put in place to maintain the vital supports this service provides to children.

“These staff have also been well resourced in terms of upskilling, some have even completed postgraduate courses with Tusla’s backing, so letting them go like this makes very little sense,” they said. 

A Tusla spokesperson told The Journal said that the families and children receiving support from the Waterford and Wexford team “will continue to have access to therapeutic services”, but they did not say what kind of services.

They added that they are timing the end of the service so that all existing families that the therapists and social work leads are engaged with get to the end of their planned appointments.

The Tusla spokesperson added that while the St Brigid’s employees “worked closely” with Tusla management, they have always had a separate employer.

“St. Brigid’s Family and Community Centre will continue to be funded by Tusla to provide other important services in the community,” the spokesperson added. 

The Journal has asked St Brigid’s for a statement.