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In camera ‘excuse’ holding up child cases
By Seán McCárthaigh
Children’s Ombudsman Emily Logan has expressed concern about ongoing legal obstacles being placed in the way of her office’s investigations into children in care.
Ms Logan said four cases under investigation were facing “legal challenges” by the HSE. She claimed the in camera “excuse” was proving problematic for her office’s ability to investigate poor childcare practice.She also questioned the use of the courts system to determine child protection issues in light of last week’s publication of a report by the Independent Child Death Review Group.
It outlined the details and shortcomings within the system which resulted in the deaths of 112 children between 2000 and 2012 from non-natural causes.
The report also high-lighted a series of failures including poor record-keeping, inadequate responses and poor management by the HSE and various state agencies.
Ms Logan said the adversarial system used in court settings did not meet the needs of children.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme, Ms Logan said her office had spent three years investigating one case, with the length of the inquiry largely attributable to resistance put up by the HSE.
She explained that the HSE was invoking the “in camera” rule in relation to family law cases to deny her office access to relevant information.
Commenting on last week’s report, Ms Logan said she was shocked by the scale of the problem but not surprised by the deficiencies within the child protection system.
The Children’s Ombudsman said it was obvious from as far back as 2006, the State did not collate data on the deaths of children in care.
Ms Logan said it had also been made very clear that her intervention would not be welcome after she had recommended to the then health minister, Mary Harney in 2007, the introduction of a mechanism to compile such information.
She observed a reluctance within the health authorities to accept any initiative which would apportion blame on frontline staff.
Calling for the greater integration of health and educational services, Ms Logan said the identification of children who left school early was a warning sign and she stressed the critical role of teachers in this area.
Frances Fitzgerald, the children’s minister, admitted child protection “was lost within the HSE” but vowed to introduce the necessary reforms recommended by last week’s report.
Ms Fitzgerald said a task force was due to report next month on the removal of child protection services from the HSE through the establishment of a new child and family support agency.
The minister said she was also determined to improve existing out-of-hours child protection services.
Gordon Jeyes — the HSE’s national director for children and family services who will head up the new agency — said much excellent work in the past by social workers had been undermined by poor record-keeping and communications.
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