Tusla needs “as much resourcing as possible” as it faces “unprecedented” and increasing demands on it services, the chairwoman of the child and family agency has said. Madeleine Clarke, speaking at the publication of the agency’s 2025 annual report, described as “startling” and “distressing” that the number of child protection referrals to Tusla exceeded 100,000 last year for the first time. It had 106,444 child safety and welfare referrals, equivalent to one in every 23 children, with emotional abuse being the most common concern.This represents a 10 per cent increase compared with 2024. The referrals related to 55,483 individual children.There was “an increasing number of children and families out there who are in distress, who are in trouble”, said Clarke. “Parents who are being increasingly challenged to provide the kind of care and nurture for their children they want to provide, usually for reasons that are completely beyond their control.”Among reasons cited for the increase were population growth, pressures of the cost-of-living and housing crises, greater awareness of the signs of abuse and an increase in numbers of unaccompanied children seeking asylum last year. Emotional abuse was the most commonly reported concern (45 per cent), followed by physical abuse (26 per cent), neglect (16 per cent) and sexual abuse (14 per cent).About a third of referrals were made by gardaí, followed by teachers (12 per cent), safeguarding officers (11 per cent) and social workers (10 per cent).The “significant” rise in referrals “challenged” frontline services, the report noted. “Despite an increase in funding levels, we remained significantly challenged in recruiting key skill sets of social work and social care staff,” it said.[ An underfunded Tusla will not be able to meet surging demand, ombudsman warnsOpens in new window ]Acknowledging a 14 per cent increase in funding for the agency this year compared with 2025, secured by Minister for Children Norma Foley in last year’s budget, Clarke noted negotiations were under way between Foley’s department and the Department of Public Expenditure for Budget 2027. “It’s completely clear that the demand and the pressure is so high that we definitely need as much resourcing as possible,” she said. Some 5,879 children were in care by the end of last year, 5,058 of whom were in foster care, according to the report.Noting an “unprecedented demand for placements”, the agency said that although progress had been made in scaling residential capacity, it continued to be “challenged” to provide a registered emergency placement for “all young people” who required an “immediate place of safety”.“This has resulted in an ongoing requirement for the use of special emergency arrangements [SEAs],” it said.Children or teenagers are accommodated in unregulated facilities provided by private operators under special emergency arrangements. They are not inspected by the State’s health services watchdog, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa).Earlier this year, The Irish Times reported that Tusla paid more than €36 million to such operators to accommodate children in the first seven months of 2025. At the end of November last year, 185 children were being accommodated in these facilities.Such accommodation is “only used when every other option has been exhausted”, the annual report noted, and is often after a “breakdown” of a placement.In recent weeks the agency announced most SEAs used in 2025 now came under Hiqa’s supervision. Emergency arrangements would be used for a maximum of 45 days, it said. Ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining staff to work in the most secure form of care, known as special care, meant just 14 of the 26 beds were operating. Kate Duggan, chief executive of Tusla, said 2025 “a year of significant challenge, marked by tragic events, capacity pressures in our special care services and growing difficulty in meeting the needs of an increasing number of children, young people and families that require a whole-of-State response,” she said.