Purpose
This paper examines costs associated with legal service use in child welfare proceedings by Tusla - the Child and Family Agency in Ireland. The direct financial costs of engaging with legal services, necessitated by the adversarial nature of child welfare proceedings, are scrutinised.
Methodology
An econometric analysis of geographical and legal factors influencing variations in Tusla’s legal spend is performed. Data (n = 1032) from a financial billing system was used for the analysis. The dependent variable was total amount billed by legal firm per observation and the independent variables included geographical location and type of legal activity involved.
Findings Type of legal personnel, volume of legal activity, and type of legal activity have significant positive effects on legal spend. Administrative area does not significantly affect spending on legal services. We find that engagement with legal services demanded by the adversarial nature of child welfare proceedings has considerable cost implications.
Research limitations/implications
Some data could not be analysed (where a final bill was not yet issued), which may introduce a bias as ongoing cases may have a greater degree of complexity. Furthermore, despite having incentive structures in place for legal firms to input data onto the system, gaps in the data exist. This placed constraints on the variables that could be analysed.
Originality and value
The value to the organisation lies in a number of key findings and recommendations pertaining to data management systems and type of data needed to assess value for money within this complex legal arena.
Key words: Child protection, costs, regression analysis
