HSE ‘has washed its hands’ of teen

THE mother of a 16-year-old boy with serious drug and alcohol problems said her son has been condemned to the criminal justice system because the HSE “has washed its hands of him”.

The boy was at the centre of a political controversy last year after he ended up sleeping in Mallow Garda Station because officers were unable to contact HSE social workers out of hours.

Now, his mother claims the health services have finally washed their hands of him as he has entered the criminal justice system.

The youth was arrested a number of weeks ago and is on remand in St Patrick’s Institution on charges of assault. At the time he was awaiting a psychological assessment from the HSE.

A Garda spokesperson confirmed that the boy was being held for an assault, but said it was “not serious”.

He said it was unlikely that the boy would receive any kind of treatment or assessment in St Patrick’s.

Last month in this paper the boy’s mother warned he would end up in prison as there were no services in place to help him beat his addictions.

“My son is 16 and he is a drug addict and an alcoholic. The problem is social services are not doing anything to help him. The guards are picking him up all the time but there is only so much they can do, the problem is his addiction – he needs help,” she said.

The boy’s mother claimed that social workers had all but washed their hands of him and were waiting for him to enter the criminal justice system so they would not have to deal with him anymore.

She said she was considering taking a case against the social services as, under the UN rights of the child, under 18-year-olds had the right to be protected.

“He is in St Pat’s at the moment following a scuffle,” his mother said. “He was supposed to get a HSE psychiatric assessment, but he was taken back to St Pat’s instead without having seen a psychologist.”

“He was brought down from Dublin in a taxi for a five-minute hearing and brought off again. I’m sure he is not the only one that happens for either – how much does that cost? How many beds in rehab could that pay for?” she asked.

According to the boy’s mother he “desperately” wants help.

“Everyone who knows his case says he is at risk and is going to be found dead, but they keep telling me there is nothing they can do,” she said. “Social workers say he needs to help himself, but he hasn’t got the sense to help himself.”