The level of scrutiny brought to child care cases in Dublin is "suffocating" and the accountability of social workers in the courts "has gone too far", the head of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has said.
Chief executive Gordon Jeyes, also said the prescriptive nature of some orders made by judges is a bad thing. "There is far too much detail," he said.
“And I did use the word suffocating intentionally, the accountability on social workers has, the pendulum there, has gone too far, in terms of judgment.” He said Ireland needs an inquisitorial system for child care orders instead of an adversarial one. A fundamental review of the Childcare Act 1991 is required and “root and branch reform” of the whole system.
Mr Jeyes, originally from Scotland, has been head of Tusla since it was set up in January 2014 to take responsibility for child protection, early intervention and family support.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Mr Jeyes said there was a problem with consistency in courts across the country.
“I know of particular courts where the day has yet to dawn when the judge would actually read the social worker’s submission, even open the envelope, before offering a view,” he said. “There will be other courts where the judge will say never apply for a full order here, you’ll never get it.”
He also acknowledged inconsistency in social work practice across the country and in the approach of An Garda Síochána, all evidence of the need for reform. He said everybody talks about making the system non-adversarial, but it becomes more adversarial.
"Going into court with social worker, guardian ad litem, often each individual parent, all tooled up, there is inevitably going to be a degree of them and us, by the very nature and degree by which social workers or others are cross-examined," he said.
There are bits of the court system that are “not fit for purpose”, Mr Jeyes said, and aspects of accountability to the judges don’t “fully work”.
“Child protection is a societal judgment to protect the child, based on balance of probability, but into the District Court has slipped standards really intended for superior courts,” he said.
