How to Report a Child Protection or Welfare Concern

It is HSE policy that all staff irrespective of role, grade or position must promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. It is not okay to do nothing if you have any information that a child has been, is being or is at risk of being abused or neglected.

There are different steps to reporting a child protection or welfare concern depending on who you are.

HSE staff, students and volunteers should follow the HSE Child Protection and Welfare Reporting Procedure (PDF, 1,184 KB, 3 pages).
Staff of HSE Funded Agencies and HSE Contracted Services follow their own organisation's reporting procedure.
Parents, Guardians and members of the public can contact Tusla - Child and Family Agency directly to report concerns.

Tusla Web Portal for making Reports of Child Protection and Welfare Concerns

To support efficient, safe and secure making of reports of child protection and welfare concerns, Tusla - Child and Family Agency have an online Web Portal (https://portal.tusla.ie/) for making reports of concern.

The Portal should be used to report all types of child protection and welfare concerns i.e. (a) mandated reports of child harm and (b) reasonable grounds of concern. You can also submit Retrospective Abuse Report Forms (RARFs) using the web portal.

Please be advised that this is the recommended method for submitting a report of a Child Protection and Welfare Concern to Tusla. Submission of reports through email/encrypted email is not considered a secure method of reporting. Reporters who cannot access the online portal, for whatever reason, should seek the support of their line managers in doing so. If accessing the online portal is not possible then reports should be submitted via registered post to Tusla or delivered to Tusla in person.

Please note: For data protection reasons, no personal information (including the name or initials of the child) will be kept on the portal. The portal will only retain a high level record of your submission (Reference Number). Where multiple reports are made by an individual, it is advisable to keep a record of the relevant Reference Number provided that is associated to the child for which the report of concern has been made.

A short user guide is available to assist if you are making your first report using the web portal.