Urgent reform is needed to overhaul children’s care services in Northern Ireland, a charity has warned.
Action for Children says a record number of children - almost 4,000 - are currently in care in the north as it launches a report which makes a number of recommendations for action.
It comes after Health Minister Robin Swann commissioned a review of children’s social care services in Northern Ireland in February 2022.
More than a year of gathering evidence, in June 2023 the review gave 53 recommendations to the Department of Health.
It found that compared with the rest of the UK and Ireland, children’s services in Northern Ireland were dealing with higher referral rates, higher rates of children in need and children with child protection plans.
The rate of children in care increased more rapidly in the north in the last decade compared to other places in the UK and Ireland.
It also noted that staff vacancies and workforce challenges are a serious problem.
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But more than a year later, Action for Children is calling for changes to be implemented.
In its report, A Place to Call Home, it has highlighted how the challenges facing the care system in the north still remain.
It has provided nine recommendations for the north’s decision-makers, which include urgently prioritising anti-poverty legislation and increasing investment in early help and family support in a bid to prevent the need for more expensive support for children and families across all Executive departments.
It also calls for the department of health to “fully commit” to introducing a “children and families’ arms-length body to improve accountability, coordination and action on the wider reforms necessary for children’s social care”.
This would see the creation of a separate children and social care services agency, rather than being divided between the five health trusts.
Other recommendations from the charity include increasing housing options and supply available for over-18s with care experience as well as improving the recruitment, training, support and retention of foster carers.
Lorna Ballard, director for Action for Children in Northern Ireland, said: “It’s clear that children’s social care needs urgent reform.
“But despite the scale of the problems, progress has been alarmingly slow - further disrupted by the UK general election followed by the summer recess.
“A lot of work is going on behind the scenes but the new health minister (Mike Nesbitt) hasn’t yet made any firm commitments to some of the key proposed reforms – like a new regional children and families’ arms-length body.
“That’s despite clear majority support for the recommendation in the public consultation responses.
“Most agree we need better coordination, accountability and strategic direction to address early the levels of need in children’s services which this kind of structure would allow.
“We hope for an announcement from the health minister soon and, in the meantime, we’ll continue to push for change as part of the Reimagine Children’s Collective - a coalition of voluntary children and young people’s service providers operating across Northern Ireland in social care delivery.”
A Department of Health spokesman said: “A public consultation on the recommendations of the Review of Children’s Social Care Services closed in early December 2023.
“A large number of responses were received.
“In July, the department published a summary and analysis of the responses.
“This will be followed in the coming months by publication of the minister’s formal response to the review’s recommendations.
“As set out in Minister Nesbitt’s Written Ministerial Statement of 10 July, the minister will also be engaging with Executive colleagues on the review’s recommendations that are cross-cutting and relate to the policy responsibilities of other departments.
“These include recommendations relating to the establishment of a Children and Families Arm’s Length Body (ALB), the appointment of a Minister for Children and Families, the expansion of the Sure Start Programme and the Gillen Review of Civil and Family Justice.
“The review covered significant ground and made a number of wide-ranging and significant recommendations.
“It is the department’s intention to make decisions on the way forward as soon as possible.
“While final decisions remain to be made, a programme of reform within children’s social care is well underway, having been established in April 2023.
“The programme is intended to address a range of challenges in a strategic and systemic way.
“This includes addressing the challenges within residential care and foster care, ongoing workforce difficulties and better supporting families at an earlier stage as recommended by the review.”
