HSE to reveal overall care data by next Friday

THE HSE said it will by this day week have determined the total number of children and young adults who died between January 1, 2000, and April 30 this year and had interacted with the care system at some stage in their lives.

The HSE has brought forward its target date for the provision of basic information on those who died in care from late June, although it stresses that in-depth information on all cases still cannot be given to an expert review group until new legislation is passed.

The government-appointed review group, charged with investigating the deaths of children in care, will today receive a definitive tally for the number of children who died in the care of the HSE between January 1, 2000 and April 30 this year.

Health Minister Mary Harney last night said the figure would likely be released today.

That figure is expected to be between 20 and 30. Bernard Gloster, who was appointed by the HSE this Tuesday to oversee the process, said he would be “surprised” if it was “substantially higher”.

Mr Gloster, a senior manager with the HSE who previously worked in North Tipperary, said the data was being provided now as the deaths of children in care was “a public confidence issue”.

He will meet the members of the independent review group, Geoffrey Shannon and Norah Gibbons, and Minister for Children Barry Andrews, on Monday to clarify the definition of the wider group of children and young adults who died having at one stage or another received care from the state.

“[By next Friday] subject to agreeing definitions with the minister and the review group on Monday we hope to have a list of children not in care [at the time of their death] but known to our services and that will include young adults who left system and who were not receiving aftercare and not yet 21,” Mr Gloster said.

He said this data is likely to be limited to an overall number, with names and ages, and other details where available. However, further information will have to be collated by the HSE’s 32 local health offices.

Mr Gloster said the HSE wanted to provide “the most comprehensive picture possible and that which is doable”.

New legislation will have to be passed, however, for further details to be made available to the group, and he added that efforts would be made to contact all families involved in the process.

As for the information to be provided today, names will not be made public and the number will be according to the definition of a child who was in care – under the provisions of Childcare Act, in care by court order or by voluntary consent of parents – and those who became adults while in care and who were receiving aftercare.

Fine Gael’s Alan Shatter said the public also needed to know the numbers of children reported to be at risk who died due to child protection failures.

Meanwhile Tánaiste Mary Coughlan said the wording of the proposed referendum on children’s rights would be ready by the end of June, sparking speculation the vote could be held in the autumn alongside three outstanding Dáil byelections.