TUSLA took steps to protect 100 unborn children deemed ‘at risk of harm’ last year

Child and Family Agency TUSLA took steps to protect 100 unborn babies that it deemed to be at risk in 2018.

New figures released by the state body show that it placed 100 babies that had not yet been born on its Child Protection Notification System (CPNS) between 1 January and 17 December of last year. This follows on from 143 unborn children being placed on the CPNS in 2017 and 107 in 2016, reports the Irish Independent. TUSLA deemed that these children were 'at significant risk of harm' within the next three years. The CPNS is a nationwide register of children for whom a plan has been put in place to make sure that they are kept safe. The protection system comes into use when TUSLA has reason to believe a child is being physically, emotionally or sexually abused or neglected. A spokesperson for the agency said that part of the assessment for children put on the CPNS included the "level of cooperation of the parents and their understanding of the future baby’s needs and their past ability to care for a baby if this is relevant." There was a total of 1,304 children on the CPNS by the end of October 2018. Of these, 97.4 per cent had been assigned a social worker.