3yr old boy from Dublin feared dead - Garda & Tusla

Are we sure a child actually existed in this case?

I used to be a Tusla social worker. I get sick of the narrative that we are lazy, don't care about kids or plain incompetent. There were many cases of kids vanishing in my time. Most of these children are from families with links abroad and the story is the parents or guardian are moving back home or going to another jurisdiction. We can do our due diligence and get as much proof of that as we can that all is ok but we don't always have the power to follow the trail, we could only do so much. We also have to have reasons to suspect harm has come to the child and that often isn't there. Someone calling and saying they haven't seen little Johnny or Mary around just isn't enough. I have raised concerns with gardai about children who go awol and some do a great job of tracking the child down with the cooperation of agencies in other countries. That's down to a garda who doesn't give up and an agency that is willing to help. But sometimes gardai have too much to do than chase down children who - 9 times out of 10 - are safe and well. And sometimes they don't get the support they need elsewhere. I'm not sure what people think social workers can actually do when their power is extremely limited. Should add that I hope this is just a case of a child moving outside the country and all is well.

The are many very committed and caring Tusla staff. But the organisation itself is largely dysfunctional. It has a reputation as being the worst administered public service body in the country. They spent millions on a new case management system........which doesnt appear to be fit for purpose or even have some of the basic functionality required. Many of Tusla's child protection policies/procedures are out dated and appear to be from the 1950s catholic church.......which isnt surprising given that many if the services offered by Tusla today were previously delivered by religious organisations. You'd think they'd update them to reflect current best practise!

I think the couple of cases that have come into the public domain are the tip of the iceberg.

The most like country for kids from this country to move to is England.

So an EU wide system won't help.

I wouldn't let Tusla or any goverment run child agency look after a mouse, let alone a child. The most dysfunctional, corrupt and biggest bunch of wasters I've come across in my life! I pity any child that has dealings with them and it's not suprising so many kids chose to live on the streets than in the "care" of Tusla.

Add in that Tusla soesnt background check their staff.

Why does an organization that can’t do the basics even exist?

Do you remember what was happening in 2020? Social workers going from house to house would be great way to spread disease!

Whatever about the government. MEN need to man up, and stop killing and injuring women and children.

The State does care about children. We dont have effective child protectiion in Ireland - its all voluntary as its not enforced. Tusla is just a rebranded version of the 'social services" previously run by religious organisations. Dont value children and loyal to the church. Tusla is so riddled with opus dei types it might as well be a church body.

So latest is that the child died in his sleep, and the parents panicked and buried him in a random field.

No harm, but if your child dies in their sleep, as horrific as this would be to discover, you don't take the body and bury it in some random spot.

Yeah that was 2020 - However after covid that child should have been checked on. To say that a child in care for 18 months who was handed back to his parents wasnt checked on sounds very negligent. We are now in 2025 - how did this child go unchecked for 5 years?

About 400 are unaccounted for by TUSLA. Tusla are the new nuns and monks in different uniforms. God help your family if you need their "help".

I was waiting for someone to find a way to blame the Catholic Church, no longer involved in any way with child services, for the fate of this child.
Because there’s no way we would just take the blame ourselves, that would be unthinkable….