Dr Niall Muldoon, the Children’s Ombudsman, expressed significant distress regarding the most recent findings from the Child Law Project. His concern pertains to children and young adults with complex needs, many of whom lack stable homes or access to necessary services.
In their latest volume, the Project unveiled alarming circumstances surrounding the welfare of Ireland’s most vulnerable children. Comprising 70 court proceeding reports about children in care, it posed grave concerns regarding the shortage of suitable placements for these minors. Specific issues raised include a lack of special care homes for at risk youth and complicated cases involving migrant children.
Dr. Muldoon communicated that the concerns go beyond the legal community with social workers, care providers and guardians sharing their acute worries about the children’s wellbeing. These professionals believe that the scarcity of appropriate foster, residential, and special care placements is nothing new. They argue that the necessary funding and workforce are unavailable because of Governmental obstinacy and disregard for the sector.
Dr Muldoon questioned how Ireland as a nation could fail to provide secure homes for these children who are under state care. He stressed the unacceptability of further excuses and called for the state’s commitment towards a well-resourced action plan that responded accurately to the children’s needs.
Dr Muldoon stressed that foster parents require additional financial and professional assistance and underlined the urgent necessity of the Irish Government to legitimise kinship care. He voiced his severe worry that the Child Law Project was not being recommissioned. He feared this suggested a breakdown in the open dialogue between the courts and the public regarding children in care.
The Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) also conveyed great concern about the newest report from the Child Law Project.