Four children missing from IPAS centre for over two weeks in 'poorly managed' incident - watchdog

FOUR CHILDREN WENT missing from an International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centre for two weeks, a new report by the watchdog says.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) inspection, carried out at an IPAS centre in Dublin, found that the incident was “poorly managed” by staff and that child safeguarding measures needed “significant improvement”.

The children went missing after their parent was hospitalised.

HIQA said that while the proper reports were made to gardaí and Tusla, the child and family agency, the centre had “failed to take reasonable and proportionate interim measures to protect the children while in the centre, leading to the staff team being unaware of the children’s whereabouts for 15 days”.

“The issue was also not promptly escalated internally, and when it was, no actions were taken by senior management,” it said.

“Additionally, pre-existing safeguarding issues were not risk assessed.”

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HIQA noted that management acknowledged the failures and committed to implementing improvements to safeguarding.

“Significant adverse incidents were reported to the relevant government department as required. However, improvement was required to ensure that all adverse incidents were consistently recorded in a manner that allowed them to be reviewed effectively,” it said.

During the inspection, the effectiveness of management structures was questioned.

“Both the centre manager and reception officer were new to the service at the time of the inspection,” the report states.

“The centre manager was in their second week of employment and undergoing an on-boarding processes, while the reception officer had been in their role for four months.

“While there was an organisational structure in place, there were no mechanisms established for management oversight or to hold staff or managers to account for their practice.”

The report found that this contributed to the centre’s failures in relation to the four children who went missing.

The report doesn’t give details of what happened when the children were found or their wellbeing.

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Residents comfortable and staff helpful

Overall, the centre was found to be partially compliant with national standards and it has been ordered to become fully-compliant by January 2025.

Inspectors said that residents they spoke with reported feeling safe and satisfied with the facilities at the centre.

They described the management and staff as approachable and helpful, and indicated they felt comfortable raising any concerns. 

The centre featured an adult-only social room, as well as a dedicated teenagers’ room with a TV and computers and a “brightly coloured indoor playground with an astro-turf pitch” for younger children.

However, there was poor internet connectivity throughout the centre. Additionally, due to staffing shortages, a room designated for afterschool activities wasn’t in use.

Hiqa also found that the centre had failed to ensure that recruitment practices were safe and effective, with one new staff member not garda-vetted.

Additionally, there were no risk assessments carried out for a staff member with positive garda-vetting disclosures. The inspectors issued an urgent compliance plan to address these concerns.

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