Raped child forced to wait 2 months for medical exam

An 11-year-old girl who was raped was forced to wait more than two months before a female doctor was available to examine her, the Ombudsman for Children has found.

Wed, 02 Oct, 2013 - 01:00

Evelyn Ring

The HSE’s failure to give the child any avenue to recover from her ordeal was also highlighted by the Ombudsman.

Ombudsman Emily Logan believed the HSE’s view that the child’s mother was difficult and challenging acted as an impediment to the child getting psychological or therapeutic support.

The HSE said it did not appoint a social worker due to an unfilled vacancy and did not prioritise the child on the basis that she was not living near her abuser.

Ms Logan said the HSE failed to acknowledge, consider or address the views of the child, which were expressed through the mother.

The girl claimed she was repeatedly violently raped by a man and the sex attacks that happened between Dec 2006 and July 2007 involved death threats and an assault with a knife.

The Ombudsman upheld a complaint by the family and found the HSE’s actions negatively affected the child, now aged 17.

“In this case, the breakdown of the relationship between the HSE and the child’s mother became a very real impediment to providing the necessary services to the child.”

She said the new Child and Family Agency must ensure its staff were trained and supported to adequately respond to families after disclosures of alleged abuse.

The Ombudsman said the HSE failed to arrange an early face-to-face meeting with the child and described its record-keeping as poor.

She said the HSE did not ensure that the mother was fully aware of the procedure: “It is imperative that HSE staff communicate clearly and in a compassionate way with parents at this extremely stressful time,” she said.

It also emerged from the Ombudsman’s report that the child was forced to wait two months before a female doctor was available to examine her.

The child underwent several detailed interviews with gardaí over a period of months. No prosecution has occurred in the case.

The mother claimed the child threatened suicide and suffered from depression at the time of the disclosures.

The child had asked for her mother to be present during an assessment but it never took place because the HSE insisted the child must be interviewed on her own.

In the absence of an assessment, no therapeutic support or psychological intervention was provided by the HSE, who said the mother was to blame.

The mother sought therapeutic support privately for her daughter.

Ms Logan said there was no face-to-face contact between the HSE and the child for more than six months after she made a disclosure of abuse.

The Ombudsman said while it is HSE protocol to interview the child unaccompanied, there was some flexibility that allowed the child to become comfortable knowing her parent remained in close proximity.

Ms Logan said that when she met the girl in August she remained adamant that she wanted her mother to be present.

The Ombudsman said it was not good enough for the HSE to say that it could not work with the child because her parent was difficult to deal with.

“They allowed the dispute to get in the way of the services the child should have received.”

Recommendations of the Ombudsman for Children:

* The HSE continues to engage with the girl and her mother in order to assess the her needs and provide appropriate therapeutic services;

* The HSE prioritises direct contact with children;

* The HSE informs and educates parents of children making disclosures of alleged sexual abuse about services available;

* The HSE has face-to-face contact with families;

* The HSE allocates a social worker to complex cases;

* The HSE improves record-keeping;

* The HSE sets case management goals;

* The HSE streamlines the system for organising medical examinations;