Child protection: Should social services be scraped?

[Brehon]

The failure of the social services in the Roscommon case as well as others raises a question of its raison etre. SS also have put over 5000 children into temporary or full-time care. Is this good or bad? Do ss make things worse or better? Giving money to alcoholic mother to buy more alcohol and keep abusing is not a good policy. Should social services be scraped, reformed or left as is?

Is a state institution necessary to police parents abusing children, should it be left to community groups but who would they be and what would be their agenda, e.g. religious?

Child abuse is going to keep happening. It is impossible to prevent imo. Therefore the only option remaining is the prosecution of perpetrators and the rehabilitation of the children through family replacement, therapy etc. Also strong messages in schools for children about the threat, free phone line for children. Probably more effective than a constitutional change?

Authoritarian answer - more power for government officials to peer into people's lives. Forced medical treatment for abusers to prevent further pregnancy by man or woman. etc

Libertarian view - not sure but protection of the child through civil organizations. Less government official interference but strong prosecution as well. A whisle blower system for communities that must be investigated by a child protection agent and community police officer. Could be abused by people but might be worth it?

lots of questions I know but the status quo is not working. So what's the solution?
Answers and comments please?

[DeputyEdo]

Reform

[hellsbells]

Nothing will change until the childrens referendum is held .fianna scum won`t hold it for political reasons.Sums up this sorry country really .

[johnfás]

Nothing will change until the childrens referendum is held .fianna scum won`t hold it for political reasons.Sums up this sorry country really .

Being predominantly dependent on resourcing, the proper implementation of the current child protection legislation and the introduction of better legislation, it is perfectly possible to vastly improve social services without any amendment to the Constitution.

[FreshStart]

This is a tough one.

Concerned Parents Against Drugs tried to "police" their own communities in the 1980s with disastrous results. Vigilantes wreaked havoc in their communities and ended up marching on "drug houses" that contained victims of drugs, not just the drug pushers.

The real problem I see, is that social services are not available 24 hours a day. This puts the garda in a terribly compromising position. I've worked in and around this area myself. Social workers may have to put a child in hospital if they can not find a suitable foster home for abused children. Of course, children can't understand why they are going to hospital when they are not sick.

I think the HSE is far too bureaucratic. Promotion is viewed as escaping the front line, the coalface as such. I think child protection has been viewed in Ireland as something we hope will just go away.

Finally, I question the merits of social workers graduating from college and entering the HSE. I think many years understanding working with and understanding children, especially those living in disadvantaged homes, would be far more beneficial. Really, I have major problems with a twenty-five year old engaging with abused children with just a college degree as their back-up. It's not fair on either party and is open to mistakes.

[Old Mr Grouser]

... The real problem I see, is that social services are not available 24 hours a day. This puts the garda in a terribly compromising position. I've worked in and around this area myself. Social workers may have to put a child in hospital if they can not find a suitable foster home for abused children. Of course, children can't understand why they are going to hospital when they are not sick.

I think the HSE is far too bureaucratic. Promotion is viewed as escaping the front line, the coalface as such. I think child protection has been viewed in Ireland as something we hope will just go away.

Finally, I question the merits of social workers graduating from college and entering the HSE. I think many years understanding working with and understanding children, especially those living in disadvantaged homes, would be far more beneficial. Really, I have major problems with a twenty-five year old engaging with abused children with just a college degree as their back-up. It's not fair on either party and is open to mistakes.

An excellent post. Spot-on.[COLOR="Blue"]

• "social services are not available 24 hours a day"
  
• "the HSE is far too bureaucratic"
  
• "Promotion is viewed as escaping the front line"
  
• "I have major problems with a twenty-five year old engaging with abused children"

[/COLOR]
It's things like that which matter. Not amendments to the Constitution, or what was proclaimed in 1916.

[cedissapointed]

Easy to come in like that and say scrap this ,scrap that a lot harder to do it,i ,and what will be in place for these kids,paedophiles turned foster parent????

I agree there is a lot of wasters in the social services who clearly cannot be bothered to change or reform anything,but our problem is we are blindly following the UK way for far too long.

[Old Mr Grouser]

Easy to come in like that and say scrap this ,scrap that a lot harder to do it,i ,and what will be in place for these kids,paedophiles turned foster parent????

I agree there is a lot of wasters in the social services who clearly cannot be bothered to change or reform anything,but our problem is we are blindly following the UK way for far too long.

[COLOR="Blue"]"our problem is we are blindly following the UK way for far too long."[/COLOR]

Why do you say that?

The UK has 24-hour social services.

And it has the Child Protection Register (though it's now called something else) which means everything gets written down, and people all along the line can be sacked if ever there's a fiasco.

[tessie909]

I done social studies in college to a certain extent but not in full but from the cases i've heard there and in more recent years there is something not working in the social services but to scrap it but be the worst thing to do.
Personally I think that both the child and the parent need councelling when the question of child abuse is raised regarding a family but first investigated to see if the case it true and not some neighbour wanting revenge.
Its hard one to called but more legal asspects are needed regarding child law and procedure from the ground up. Only in the worst cases are children taken and put into foster most cases they are allowed to go to extened family before they go into foster.
The UK childcare and social service system is one of the best in the world and we should be looking at this but with the curent economic weather as usual the children will be left out in the cold as they do not have a voice in ireland.
But changes are needed and the HSE should be made more accountable for their actions when a child is in there care. These are the most vunerable sector in our community and i the state can't be bother then it should be done through community based schemes and local help. At least if there is something to help both the children and the parents its better than having nothing. Its not just the children that need help its the parents or parents that needs to be helped to.