Irish teen in UK as no care at home

An Irish teenager has been forced to remain in a psychiatric institution in Britain despite being ready for discharge, as there was no facility in Ireland to keep her.

The case is contained in the fourth, and final, Child Care Law Reporting Project (CCLRP) volume of cases for 2015.

It involved a teenage girl whose mother had gone to the HSE as she could no longer cope with her daughter at home due to assaults and property damage.

The girl was eventually taken into care as she was a risk to herself but the HSE found that there was no placement in Ireland appropiate to her needs. As a result, she was sent to Britain by air ambulance and spent 10 months there.

Although deemed ready for discharge, as there was no place for her in Ireland, she remains in Britain. The High Court judge has asked all clinicians in the case to meet and come up with proposals for her within a fortnight.

In another case, two children had to be returned to secure care because of their risk-taking behaviour following their discharge. The girl, aged 17, had spiralled into homelessness, drug-taking, and prostitution since her release.

The boy was found to have been engaging in “extremely high-risk behaviour” in his step-down placement including attacks on staff and property. The gardaí had to be called out to the placement on 25 separate occasions.

In another case, a care order was granted in the District Court for a 17-year-old girl after it emerged her parents had made a stranger her guardian. The man had taken her to Ireland from another country and had a sexual relationship with her.

Commenting on the publication of the latest volume, which brings to over 100 the reports published in 2015, CCLRP director Carol Coulter said the same themes crop up again and again in the cases it sees.

“The themes identified in previous volumes continue to feature strongly in this final volume of 2015: Cognitive disability, alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness, membership of ethnic minorities, including the Travelling community, problems with finding appropriate secure care places for disturbed children,” she said.

Dr Coulter said the CCLRP will continue to report cases next year but will focus less on routine hearings and more on protracted and difficult cases.

“This reporting will be combined with qualitative research into the reasons why certain cases become very difficult and protracted, which can adversely affect the children at the heart of the proceedings,” said Dr Coulter.