A BIG number of the 160 child care orders granted by Limerick District Court last year were in respect of Traveller families.
The annual report of the Child Law Reporting Project released this week shows that the number of court applications regarding children in care rose significantly in 2015 with 441 applications brought before Limerick District Court alone.
While the number of applications before the courts rose, the number of children in the care system remained relatively unchanged.
Limerick, along with Cork, Waterford, Louth and four of the seven Dublin areas, has a higher proportion of children in care per 10,000 children than the national average.
Limerick and Clonmel emerged as the most likely areas to see the children going into the care of relatives with more than a third being cared for by relatives in Limerick.
The most common applications to come before the courts were “extensions to care orders” where the Child and Family Agency would apply to extend the term of an emergency or interim care order regarding a child.
Limerick and Cavan had the highest number of orders involving Traveller families.
Nationally, the total number of court applications increased to 14,124 from 9,864 in 2014.
Care order applications rose from 1,800 to 3,413 last year, extensions of interim care orders increased from 2,003 to 3,252, and reviews of care orders almost doubled from 806 to 1,502.
There was a significant element of regional variation in the figures, with some courts more likely to grant orders than others.
Limerick had the fourth highest number of applications after Dublin Cork and Wexford.
Child Care Law Reporting Project director Dr Carol Coulter said that while some of the wide disparities between different parts of the country could reflect different court and recording practice, they must also reflect different practices on the part of Tusla/the Child and Family Agency in bringing applications.
“This may reflect a greater use of voluntary care in some parts of the country, or higher levels of family support,” she explained.
She said more research was needed to establish the reasons for the wide variations in the number of applications around the country.
Tusla pointed out that there were 6,388 children in care last year which was 66 fewer than in 2014.
Meanwhile, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) and Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the exchange of information between the two organisations.
