> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.dublininquirer.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # As Tusla struggles with shortage of places for kids, a mostly-empty home had to stop taking children because of staffing problems - URL: https://www.dublininquirer.com/as-tusla-struggles-with-shortage-of-places-for-kids-a-mostly-empty-home-had-to-stop-taking-children-because-of-staffing-problems/ - Published: 2026-08-21T00:06:32.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-21T00:06:32.000Z - Description: “There was not sufficient experience or stability among the team to provide safe and effective care,” says the Tusla inspection report. - Author: Laoise Neylon - Tags: children in care, City Desk As a private company contracted by Tusla struggled to provide sufficient and stable staffing in a children's home, a kid who'd lived there for two years left and refused to return. This worsened the problem, because the company was then providing outreach to this young person at another location every second day. The remaining child still living at the home then complained about "the level of different staff members being in the centre". A Tusla inspection [report](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28566340-inspection-report-child-refuses-to-remain-living-in-childrens-home-due-to-failure-of-consistent-staffing/?ref=dublininquirer.com) on that children's home, with a capacity for four kids aged 13 to 17,found it had issues with high staff turnover, including at managerial level, and it ran the home using a lot of agency staff and borrowing staff from one of its other homes. After the lone remainingyoung person in the home raised their concern about staffing, Daffodil managers said they would ensure that at least one staff member that the child knew was on shift each day – but didn't achieve that, the report says. “The inspectors found that with the change in management over the past few months combined with the staffing deficits and increase in agency staffing across the centre that there was not sufficient experience or stability among the team to provide safe and effective care,” says the report, based on an inspection in March. High staff turnover led to other issues in the home too, the report shows. There were problems with the reporting of some serious incidents, and with the way the home ended a child’s placement. Some staff didn’t have some necessary training, including for behaviour management and recognising the signs of child sexual exploitation. The recently appointed manager intended to leave again, saying they only took the job for six months. The person assigned to provide on-call support, that is to give advice to frontline staff, often in a crisis, wasn’t suitably experienced, according to inspectors. “This is a shocking litany of failures,” says Terry Dignan, a social care manager and spokesperson for charities that run children’s homes. “Many children come from chaotic home environments and the children’s home is supposed to be a nurturing, warm, safe and secure space,” he says. “This is not what care is, this is just containment.” Tusla didn’t formally attach any conditions to the registration of the home, but Daffodil agreed not to take in any more children until the staffing issues were resolved and a further compliance review meeting takes place on 1 September, according to the inspection report. Even as this home remained mostly empty, Tusla has been struggling for years with a shortage of placements for children who need them – resorting to [placing them in unregistered homes](https://www.dublininquirer.com/tusla-says-its-an-offence-to-run-an-unregistered-childrens-home-but-it-places-children-in-them-anyways/). A spokesperson for Tusla said on Thursday that they were working on responses to queries about this situation. Daffodil did not respond in time for publication to queries sent on Wednesday. ## Building relationships After the remaining child in the home raised their concern about unfamiliar staff working in the centre, “The centre had implemented a risk assessment in relation to the use of agency staff,” says the inspection report. The assessment recommended that one staff member known to the young person should be rostered on shift each day, but that didn’t happen every day “as there was not sufficient core team members available", it says. On the day of the inspection, inspectors witnessed the interaction between staff and the last remaining child living in the centre. The staff member on duty didn’t attempt to engage with the young person, including while the inspectors were present, the report said. “The inspectors observed the interactions of one staff member with this young person, and it was clear that the young person did not engage with the staff member, nor did the staff member make any efforts to engage with them and remained using their personal phone while the inspectors were present for over a thirty-minute period,” says the [report. ](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28566340-inspection-report-child-refuses-to-remain-living-in-childrens-home-due-to-failure-of-consistent-staffing/?ref=dublininquirer.com) National standards [stress how](https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26220433/national-standards-for-childrens-residential-centres.pdf?ref=dublininquirer.com) children’s homes are supposed to be run by staff who get to know children well and build relationships with them. Relationship-building is crucial to trauma-informed care as well as supporting children with attachment issues. “Effective residential centres need processes to ensure that there are sufficient staff available at the right time, with the right skills, diversity and flexibility to deliver child-centred, safe and effective care and support to each child living in the centre,” say the standards. The Daffodil homes are based on a model of care called systemic therapeutic engagement model (STEM), which provides a framework for positive interventions, says the inspection report. “STEM draws on a number of complementary philosophies and approaches including circle of courage, response ability pathways, therapeutic crisis intervention and daily life events,” according to a different [inspection report](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28566343-inspection-report-centre-id-039-2022-1/?ref=dublininquirer.com) for a Daffodil centre. The circle of courage is a model of youth development which has four main parts, the first of which is belonging. “Belonging: The universal longing for human bonds is nurtured by relationships of trust,” says an [article](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12664157/?ref=dublininquirer.com) published in the [journal*BMC Primary Care*](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12875-025-03066-8?ref=dublininquirer.com). “Effective residential care is relational and based on building trusting relationships with young people,” says Dignan. “Consistency and continuity is the essence of this, which means minimising staff changes or turnover.” The home failed to meet the standard for staffing, according to the inspection report. The standard says: “The registered provider plans, organises and manages the workforce to deliver child-centred, safe and effective care and support.” Tara Ćirić, a lecturer in Maynooth University says relationship-building is essential to any therapeutic model. "In my opinion, many of these models function in name only if the service cannot guarantee adequate and stable staff," she says. The Department of Children is working on developing a National Policy Framework for Alternative Care, she says, which she hopes will include a consistent therapeutic model of care across residential care services in Ireland. "It would be in the best interest of young people for a model of be chosen and fulfilled to the best of the services ability, including staffing, so that young people experience consistent stable support no matter what placement they are in," she says. ## A ripple of problems The Tusla inspection report of this particular Daffodil home flagged issues with high levels of managerial staff turnover, and managerial duties being assigned to workers who didn’t have the necessary qualifications and experience. Inspectors found that the person designated for on-call duty, in other words for frontline staff to call in an emergency or if they didn’t know what to do, covering five children’s homes,didn’t have the expertise for the role. “The decision to give this staff member on-call responsibilities lacked good oversight and governance,” says the report. As well as that, a recently appointed manager planned to leave the role after six months. They had only agreed to a six-month contract, they report says. A recently appointed regional manager was responsible for internally auditing records. “The inspectors found that records were of poor quality, were not up to date, sequential and were disorganised,” says the report. This was partly because staff couldn’t print anything out, an issue that had been ongoing for four months, and which the regional manager had been aware of, but wasn't fixed, says the report. The regional manager was also new in the job said that they were working through the gaps in documentation. Meanwhile, inspectors found that some significant events hadn't been reported, or hadn't been properly followed up on. A lot of child protection concerns were also not dealt with in a timely way. "The inspectors found that while some follow up had been completed to address this issue by centre and external management it was inconsistent and sporadic." “Overall, the inspectors found that due to the inconsistent staffing team incidents had not been effectively identified, managed or reported in line with the organisation's policies and procedures,” says the inspection report. However it also says that the standard for reporting of significant events was met. Tusla did not respond to queries about this in time for publication. ## The cost of caring Children’s residential care is expensive. That high cost is supposed to come with a high level of in-house care services. In [tender documents](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28565878-1-rft-provision-of-childrens-residential-services-2026-1/?ref=dublininquirer.com) this year, Tusla set a “fair price” providers must commit to for each child placement. For-profit companies are allowed to charge 10 percent more than charities, resulting in rates ranging from €6,600 per week to a maximum of €19,500 per week for “complex high-dependency” children who must be placed in single-occupancy units with tailored support. Some, although not all, private children’s homes providers pay managers significantly less than they would earn doing the same job in the public sector or for a charity. A Tusla residential care social care manager, at the top of their scale is paid €22,000 a year more than the same managerial role in Daffodil. The social care manager in Tusla is on a salary scale of €69,000 to €79,000 a year, according to an [online job advert](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28565867-screenshot-2026-08-19-112413/?ref=dublininquirer.com), while the same role in Daffodil is [€52,000 to €57,000.](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28568101-screenshot-2026-08-19-112257/?ref=dublininquirer.com) A deputy social care manager in Daffodil starts at €45,000 a year, according to [online job adverts](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28565872-screenshot-2026-08-19-112025/?ref=dublininquirer.com). The same job role for Tusla started at €59,000 a year in 2024, according to a[ job specification. ](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28568106-crs-deputy-social-care-manager-confined-2024-updated/?ref=dublininquirer.com) A [survey by Social Care Ireland in 2021](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28568555-recruitment-and-retention-report-sci/?ref=dublininquirer.com) asked social care workers what were the main challenges to recruitment and retention in the sector. They said low pay (31 percent), respect and recognition (16 percent), hours (14 percent), support (12 percent), stress, burnout and bullying (10 percent). The solutions to high staff turnover says Ćirić, the lecturer at Maynooth, are adequate pay, competitive compensation and job stability, safe and respectful working conditions, realistic workloads, and involving staff in decision making. The sector also needs to provide high quality supervision and support for workers, she said, especially for those in their first five years as social care workers.