Concerns raised over children in HSE care home

A NUMBER of children in the care of the Health Service Executive (HSE) ended up engaged in criminal behaviour, drinking and in the company of “unsuitable adults”.

The youngsters, aged 12 to 17-years-old, absconded from their care home in Dublin North East and on one occasion one of them was seriously assaulted.

On another occasion, staff at the home saw one youngster getting out of a car driven by an adult man in a very intoxicated state.

One child witnessed totally unsuitable and inappropriate adult behaviour while outside the care unit.

The difficulties at the home are outlined in a report by the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI), published this month.

Inspectors found that three of the children and young people were leaving the centre and placing themselves in danger.

There had been 253 unauthorised absences from the centre involving 14 children and young people in the year prior to inspection. Inspectors had serious concerns about the level of high-risk behaviour when absent.

“When interviewed by inspectors about this behaviour the children and young people had no awareness of, and were utterly naive about, the serious risk they were placing themselves in,” said the inspectorate.

Gardaí were informed after one child witnessed inappropriate adult behaviour while outside the unit, but the inspectorate said they were “at times confined about what they could do if they had no evidence that a crime had been committed or no victim of a crime reported it to them”.

In an effort to overcome this difficulty, the unit successfully applied for a high court injunction against named individuals, an action praised by the inspectorate but, this was only effective for a short time.

“Soon different unsuitable adults began associating with the young people,” said the report.

The inspectorate also had concerns that two of the young people were going to bed very late and in some cases not getting up the next day until mid-afternoon. Consequently they were not attending school at all. One of these young people was only 13 years old.

A spokesperson for the HSE said it was considering the recommendations of the report.

The home, located in a residential area on the outskirts of town, was previously inspected by the SSI in July 2005 and all recommendations had been met. Inspectors found a high degree of staff commitment and care during both inspections. However, inspectors found that the behaviour of some of the young people outside the unit was problematic.

The inspectorate recommended that the HSE ensure that external management review all unauthorised absences and ensure that children and young people were safe inside and outside the unit.