Congolese girl loses bid to have HSE fund care after she turned 18
The girl was 16 when she arrived in Ireland in 2008 and was in the care of the HSE until June 2010, two months after she turned 18.
Mr Justice Paul Gilligan refused to grant orders quashing the HSE decision to cease providing the girl’s care in June 2010 after she became an adult and a declaration obliging the body to consider her aftercare needs.
The judge said it may be the case that the HSE’s care fell “short of the desired norm” but from her school reports and letters of support it was clear she had developed into a well-balanced girl. “She certainly has secured the hearts and minds of those who came into contact with her.”
The girl’s application for asylum status was refused and her application to remain on humanitarian grounds is being reviewed by the Minister for Justice.
She was taken into the care of the HSE and housed at a Dublin hostel for separated children after she arrived in Dublin. After finishing her fifth-year programme at the Dublin school, the now 18-year-old was transferred under the Department of Justice Reception and Integration Agency to accommodation in Galway.
However, due to “deep unhappiness” and having been seen by a consultant clinical psychologist in October 2010 she was removed from the hostel in Galway. She was taken under the umbrella of a voluntary organisation, Young People at Risk, who brought her back to Dublin, housed her and returned her to her original school.
She had since sat her Leaving Cert in June 2011 and hopes to pursue a third-level course.
Mr Justice Gilligan said she is essentially seeking to remain in Dublin in accommodation provided by the HSE and wishes to be assisted in continuing her education.
She appeared to be seeking not a return to the asylum system but an “individually crafted care plan outside of the system”.
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