{"id":4549,"date":"2014-04-22T11:26:58","date_gmt":"2014-04-22T11:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.againstchildtrafficking.org\/?p=4549"},"modified":"2014-04-22T11:26:58","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T11:26:58","slug":"ireland-vacant-beds-for-children-in-care-cost-taxpayer-e20m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/ireland-vacant-beds-for-children-in-care-cost-taxpayer-e20m\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland: Vacant beds for children in care cost taxpayer \u20ac20m"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Source:\u00a0http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Private operators charging up to \u20ac13,000 per week for beds for children<\/p>\n

Tue, Apr 22, 2014, 01:00<\/p>\n

Taxpayers paid \u20ac20 million a year for empty beds in children\u2019s residential centres aimed at providing care for vulnerable young people in State care, according to an internal report.
\nIn all, about 500 children at risk reside in publicly and privately operated care centres.<\/p>\n

But an unpublished HSE review of these homes found private operators had been charging up to \u20ac13,000 per week \u2013 or \u20ac675,000 a year \u2013 for individual children\u2019s beds.
\nIn addition, some private firms charged the State different rates for children from different parts of the country, even though they were placed in the same residential centre.<\/p>\n

Findings<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>The findings are contained in An Analysis of Residential Child Care Centres and Places in the Statutory, Voluntary and Private Sectors Used by the HSE , dated 2011.
\nIt was released under the Freedom of Information Act.<\/p>\n

This report predates the establishment of the Child and Family Agency, which took over responsibility for key social services from the HSE earlier this year.<\/p>\n

In a statement yesterday, the agency\u2019s chief executive Gordon Jeyes said there was now a national approach aimed at ensuring high-quality care and bed occupancy.<\/p>\n

An agreement was reached after the report was compiled that private residential care would be charged at a flat rate of \u20ac5,000 a week, with any addition money being charged solely for specialised services.<\/p>\n

Much of the report focuses on privately run centres, which have grown significantly over recent years due to the closure of State-owned facilities and the ban on public sector recruitment. On average, privately operated centres were much more expensive (\u20ac330,000 per year), compared to public facilities (\u20ac225,000) or those run by the not-for-profit sector (\u20ac140,000).<\/p>\n

The report notes some service providers immediately reduced their costs when they learned that the internal review was being compiled.<\/p>\n

Despite the high cost of placements , some children were not being adequately cared for in residential centres and required special care facilities, the report found.<\/p>\n

 
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Source:\u00a0http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com Private operators charging up to \u20ac13,000 per week for beds for children Tue, Apr 22, 2014, 01:00 Taxpayers paid \u20ac20 million a year for empty beds in children\u2019s residential centres aimed at providing care for vulnerable young people in State care, according to an internal report. In all, about 500 children at risk reside… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4549"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4551,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549\/revisions\/4551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}