Almost half of foster children locally do not have an allocated social worker

Chaotic is being used to describe the allocation of social workers to children in care locally.

A new report into foster care services has been published following an inspection in May of this year.

It found that almost 40% of children surveyed in Carlow, Kilkenny & South Tipperary did not have an allocated social worker.

The report says that this area has experienced significant challenges in retaining social workers, and the most serious impact of this was being felt by the children.

However, the report says that while the service delivery was poor, the staff who spoke with inspectors were engaged, motivated and clearly wanted to provide the best service that they could and an action plan has been outlined.