A report into the provision of foster care for Kerry children has found that poor governance resulted in several incidences of non-compliance.
The Health Information and Quality Authority, which carried out the inspection in October, found that some children have no social workers assigned to their cases.
The report also noted that there was no system in place to track allegations and child protection concerns.
This inspection by HIQA was carried out over four days and was part of a follow-up after a series of non-compliances were identified earlier in 2021.
It found that the majority of children in foster care in Kerry have experienced multiple changes in social workers, have several different social workers assigned to their cases or none at all.
Previous inspections found that the service had not appropriately informed the Foster Care Committee of relevant issues about placements and child protection concerns against foster carers.
Inspectors noted a lack of documentation about case management and safety planning and that care plans suffered from a lack of managerial oversight.
While some improvements had been made since earlier inspections, the report outlines some gaps in care.
There are also question marks over the validity of the data provided by Kerry services to the Tusla national office and HIQA, given that there were differences in what was reported and what inspectors found.
During the inspection, inspectors spoke with three children living in foster care and with six carers. While all children reported positively about the quality of care provided by their foster families, the multiple changes in social workers, they said, were challenging for them.
One child said they had two different social workers in the past 12 months and another hasn't had a social worker since last April.
The service has been provided with a compliance plan to meet the national standards for all regulations by March 31st.
