Inspectors find drug use and absences at child care unit

Children taking drugs and regularly going missing from care are among the alarming findings outlined in an inspection report of a care home in Cork for which the State is responsible.

On one occasion, drug paraphernalia was removed from a child’s room following a search. On another occasion, a child suffered serious injuries that required medical attention following what the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) inspector describes as “a high-risk incident” which occurred outside of the home.

The open nature of the unit, which meant children could come and go at will, made it extremely difficult for staff to manage risky behaviour outside the home. In the year prior to the inspection, there had been 333 “significant or adverse events”, of which 305 were incidents of absence without authority — 84 of which were classified as missing from care.