HSE failed to register baby born to girl in care

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) failed to register or give a formal identity to a baby born to a young girl in its care, and has yet to draw up guidelines to prevent similar lapses, a year after being told to do so.

On foot of an inspection of a children’s residential home in Dublin North West in March 2009, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) discovered that a young girl who fell pregnant while living in the home had given birth to the baby and cared for it in the home. Despite living under the HSE’s roof, the baby was not on its register, contrary to legal requirements.

The regulations require the HSE to keep one or more registers of particulars of children in residential care.