Troubled teen to continue Swedish care scheme

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.

The 15-year-old boy, who once set fire to a room with children in it, left Ireland in November to commence a placement in a special care unit on an island off the Swedish coast, which was arranged through the Health Service Executive (HSE).

He became the second child to be sent to this unit, the Hassela Gotland centre, located on a small island in the Baltic Sea.

He pleaded guilty at the Dublin Children’s Court yesterday to travelling in a stolen car and a breach of the peace, which occurred on June 28 last year, in the Shankill area.

He was later held in custody in Oberstown Boys’ Centre, a detention centre for young offenders because there were no suitable care home environment in Ireland.

The teen was flown back from Sweden to attend his court case yesterday.

Judge Catherine Murphy applied the probation act, leaving the boy without a criminal conviction for the offences, on hearing his placement in the Swedish unit was for an indefinite period. She was also told he may stay there until he reaches adulthood, when he is aged 18.

Defence solicitor Catherine Ghent said that efforts would have to be made to ensure that there would be provisions made to provide the problem child with assistance on his return.

When asked by the judge as to how he felt about his placement in Sweden, the teen said he liked it.

In November, the HSE sourced the Hassela Gotland centre for troubled young people. The court had heard previously that since the teen was aged six, he had spent years in different care units, suffered a mental breakdown, had been on numerous medications and in one incident set fire to a room in which where there were other children.

His mother, who was in court yesterday, could not manage him due to his problems and there were also fears for his safety in the community if he was released, the court had also heard.

There has been considerable social service involvement in the teenager’s life and his case had presented difficulties in terms of providing suitable accommodation.

The teenager has been held in Oberstown Boys’ Centre from July until November last year pending efforts to have the HSE source a suitable residential and therapeutic care placement for him.

When he was aged six, he was made subject of a care order which led to him being placed in three care homes in Dublin.

Following these placements, he was sent home and prescribed the drug Ritilin, for people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and was later prescribed anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medication.

At the age of eight, the boy then suffered a mental breakdown and had to be sedated.

Five years ago the health board placed him in a care home in England - from which he later absconded - when he was 10-years-old, and ended up on the streets of London, drinking with vagrants for a number of days.

His mother then brought him back to Ireland where he was put into another care home. In April last year, the boy returned to his family home.

The home was allegedly raided by men claiming to be from the Continuity IRA and armed with guns and baseball bats who threatened the boy, resulting in his family having to move house.