State services should be evaluated for prejudice-based practices following the handling of the two Roma child cases last week, a social care expert has urged.

A spokesperson for the Minister for Children says Frances Fitzgerald will not attend the Children's Court today to explain the lack of custodial places for children.

At last, a duty to do right by our children is in place, writes Catherine Ghent

A SCOTTISH facility for seriously troubled youths which had previously taken referrals from the HSE is no longer going to do so as it needs the beds for its own young people.

ALMOST €10 million was paid to a private company to provide residential, aftercare and respite services for 60 troubled teenagers last year.

DIFFICULTIES over the provision of psychiatric services to a troubled 16-year-old girl who twice tried to hang herself in recent days have been resolved, the High Court has heard.

A 16-YEAR-OLD girl who displayed suicidal tendencies was initially denied access to psychiatric services because of a dispute over whether she should be assessed by adult or child services, the High Court has heard.

THE practice regarding disclosure of documents in cases of child sexual abuse is “ad hoc” and serving neither the accused nor child victim’s interests, a leading children’s solicitor has said.

A TOP child law expert has claimed the Government is ignoring the recommendations from the Roscommon incest case report in a new bill “designed to silence ‘troublesome’ voices” of children in legal proceedings.

IN the article “State failing to protect tortured children” (June 24) solicitor Catherine Ghent said children whose parents are married are “discriminated against” and “placed at greater risk” under the Constitution as the state can only move in where there is “an immediate and fundamental threat” to the child.

CHILDREN are being left in families where they are being tortured and physically abused because the state’s ability to intervene is restricted by the Constitution, according to a child law expert.

SPECIAL investigators to determine whether children have been victims of sexual abuse have not been appointed by the HSE.

DETAILS of the deaths of children known to social services in the past decade are being prepared for possible publication this week and contain 20 deaths in Cork and Kerry alone.

THE HSE has been criticised for “using” a young person’s criminal charges as a way of excluding them from accessing special care units where teenagers are detained for their own safety and protection.

A 14-year-old boy with extremely low comprehension ability cannot be placed into a “special care” facility for children who pose a risk to themselves because he is facing a criminal prosecution, a court heard yesterday.

JURISDICTION to hear a case in the Dublin Children’s Court involving a boy arrested for attacking a youth with a glass bottle leaving him scarred and needing plastic surgery was refused today.

A troubled 16-year-old boy repeatedly threatened during his Children’s Court case today that he would kill himself if he was remanded in custody.

A 16-year-old boy who took part in a violent gang mugging of a teenager, has turned his back on a care plan set up for him, the Children’s Court has been told.

A judge has dismissed the case against a teenager suffering from “severe intellectual difficulties” who was accused of sexually assaulting two girls, on the ground that he did not understand his actions.

A troubled 15-year-old boy, who has made threats to kill himself, was further remanded in custody, by the Dublin Children’s Court yesterday pending efforts by the Health Service Executive to place him in a suitable care unit.

The case of three teenagers arrested over a gang attack on a man, which was described as an act of “gratuitous violence,” was too serious to be heard in the Children’s Court, a judge ruled today.

A warrant has been issued by the Dublin Children’s Court for the arrest of a 14-year-old boy.

NINE out of 10 children of criminals end up with a conviction themselves, according to research presented at a conference yesterday examining the needs of young people whose parents are sent to prison.

A 16-year-old boy, who has been found guilty of driving a mini-bus that was stolen and later crashed, has been given a two-month sentence, by Judge Hugh O’Donnell at the Dublin Children’s Court.

A suicidal 14-year-old boy, who tried to kill himself while in garda custody, at the weekend, has been further remanded in custody, by Judge Bryan Smyth the Dublin Children’s Court.

A suicidal 14-year-old boy, who claimed he tried to kill himself in a garda station cell at the weekend, has been remanded in custody by Judge Gerard Haughton at the Dublin Children’s Court.

The prosecution of a troubled 14-year-old girl, who allegedly took part in an arson that caused €15,000 worth of damages to her family home, is to be challenged in the High Court.

A prosecution against a young woman, who was arrested for allegedly engaging in prostitution while her mother and six-year-old sister were present, was today struck out by a judge, who described the case as "one of the saddest I have dealt with".

A functionally illiterate 16-year-old boy, who over the last three years has lived a chaotic life involving heroin addiction, no education and prolonged periods on the streets, has vanished the Dublin Children’s Court heard today.

A 14-year-old boy, who stole €300 from a shop and then bit two security guards who tried to stop him, has been detained for one year by Judge Bryan Smyth at the Dublin Children’s Court.

The case of a mildly autistic 12-year-old boy who is unable to give legal instructions to his solicitor has been adjourned pending a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on whether or not the prosecution will be dropped.

A TROUBLED teenager, who was sent to a special care unit in Sweden, may spend three more years there at a cost of €100,000 a year, a court heard yesterday.

A troubled 15-year-old boy from Dublin who was sent to a special care unit in Sweden may spend three more years there, a court heard today.

A TEENAGE girl charged with engaging in prostitution was yesterday remanded on bail by the Dublin Children's Court for a hearing next March.

THE Health Service Executive is considering sending a troubled 14-year-old boy, who set fire to a room with children in it, to a therapeutic care centre in Sweden, the Dublin Children’s Court heard yesterday.

A judge today accused the Health Service Executive of obstructing a court case by withholding evidence from gardaí and a 15-year-old defendant charged with assaulting a care worker in the Ballydowd Special Care Unit.

A teenage girl charged with prostitution has been released from Mountjoy Prison after a court heard that she was bullied by other inmates and constantly offered heroin there.

A 17-year-old girl charged with prostitution was remanded back into custody yesterday after a court heard that she had tested positive for heroin use and had gone missing for nearly a week.