A pound of flesh for Barnardos

CHIEF executive officer of Barnardos Fergus Finlay isn’t afraid of rolling up his sleeves and getting stuck in when it comes to fundraising.
So much so that he is undertaking a sponsored weight-loss programme to raise funds for Barnardos.
He took up the challenge and since January 11, he has lost 1st 4lbs and is increasing his sponsorship the longer he keeps losing weight. He said that he is losing weight through a combination of healthy eating and anaerobic workouts including weight and power lifting.
“I needed to lose some weight anyway and I was also anxious to come up with a fundraising scheme for myself, so I married the two. So far, it’s going very well and I’ll keep going until I get to my target weight. I’m not saying what that is – suffice to say I’ve a bit to go,” Mr Finlay said.
The CEO was in Ennis last week to launch ClareCare’s strategic plan. His visit was timely given the media publicity relating to the issues arising from the report into the care of 18-year-old Tracey Fay throughout her lifetime.
Mr Finlay feels that a serious overhaul of the whole system of child protection and supports in this country is now necessary, in light of that and other reports.
“What the Tracey Fay report demonstrates is that combination of terrible individual tragedy – a really sad story – and the failings of the system. Basically a girl who died in the gutter, alone. But she wasn’t born to die in the gutter; things went wrong. And there were issues all along the way that needed to be dealt with very seriously. Effectively, the system did not work for her,” he commented.
“In her case, personally, it was a long downward spiral. The system watched her on that spiral but didn’t do enough. She’s not the only one. That’s the problem – this doesn’t seem to have been an isolated case. There are a number of cases that are almost as bad and a very significant number of children affected,” he added.
He believes the HSE’s appointment of a new manager to deal with child protection and care is a step in the right direction towards improving the system, but more changes are essential.
“There needs to be a huge amount of change. We need to not just learn the lessons of Tracey Fay and the others identified in recent reports but implement the changes that are necessary. We can’t keep going on the way things used to be. Serious intervention, early support, is absolutely crucial in all cases, not just when something goes wrong. We are much better in Ireland at picking up the pieces, at being reactionary rather than proactive. Even though it’s much more expensive, the money has to be found for intervention when it’s necessary, not just intervention when mistakes are made,” he said.
“In the Tracey Fay and other cases, early intervention would have made all the difference – there is no doubt about that. One of the lessons we have to learn is that if we’re not serious about implementing change, then this is going to carry on. I believe that child and family social services in Ireland need their own structure. There needs to be an end to the situation where policy is in one place and services in another, where people are relying on state agencies which aren’t in a position to implement policies. The HSE as it is now is too large and preoccupied with other matters, to deal with the nitty gritty of matters like these reports have shown,” Mr Finlay commented.
He pointed out that one-third of the HSE’s budget goes on running hospitals, including accident and emergency services. The other two-thirds of its budget goes on a wide variety of other services, including social service matters, disability and administration.
“But 100% of its energy, time and management capacity, intellectual capacity and strategy management is devoted to the hospitals. That leaves not nearly enough time to deal with the rest other services, on care services that warrant much more time, energy and management,” he said.
He added that it costs in the region of €75,000 a year to keep a child in a high-security unit. “And that’s €75,000 where no outcome can be guaranteed. No child is going to emerge from a high-security unit healthier and better than when they went into it, because therapeutic interventions aren’t there and because a lot of damage has been done before they went into those units.”
Mr Finlay said that a new more effective cancer strategy was embarked upon following a number of crisis cases. “I think what’s going to happen is that we’re going to be driven by this crisis again into what has to happen in terms of children’s social services. The main thing, however, is that changes are made to the system and made soon,” he concluded.