Barnardos call for funds for kids at risk

Barnardos has said there is an “urgent need” for more investment in mental health and social work supports for vulnerable children after a new report indicated some children in care were not receiving the services they need.

The latest Child Care Law Report, which detailed 30 childcare cases, highlighted some positive outcomes for children, but also indicated that in some cases the lack of suitable services is having a detrimental effect on young people.

In one example, a teenage boy who spent four years at the Boys Town facility in the US state of Omaha, by order of the Irish courts, returned to Ireland last summer to find no suitable secure placement was available. According to the report his behaviour regressed and he was absconding from his placement while using heroin and crack cocaine.

In a separate case, an Irish child who has spent the past three years in an overseas psychiatric unit cannot return to Ireland as there is no suitable facility here.

June Tinsley, head of advocacy at Barnardos, said the lack of specialised support for vulnerable children should not be a surprise after “years of under-investment”, but the cases highlighted in the latest Child Care Law Report should “shock us into action”.

“It is unacceptable that very vulnerable young people have little or no support when leaving special care units,” she said.

“Post-austerity we must now see sufficient investment to tackle the long waiting lists in both child and adolescent mental health services and social work support which means too many of our most at-risk children are left in limbo for months on end.

“This means ensuring [the Child and Family Agency] Tusla and the HSE are sufficiently resourced to provide prevention and early intervention support to these young people, instead of adding them to waiting lists that can result in their problem spiralling into a crisis. It also means specialised support services would be available for those with high level of need.”

Responding to the Child Care Law Report, which was compiled by Dr Carol Coulter, Tusla said there are a small number of children whose life experiences require that the State not just take them into care but ensure specialised care is provided for them.

“In such cases, a carefully laid out care plan is placed before the courts and rigorously interrogated by a judge,” it said in a statement.

“When the plan has received judicial approval at the highest level, the child/ young person is placed in special care.”

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