Child welfare cases held alongside criminal ones

Child welfare hearings are taking place alongside criminal cases presided over by swamped judges in overcrowded courts without proper waiting areas, consultation rooms, toilets, or drinking water.

Vulnerable families share common areas with handcuffed prisoners, sensitive discussions are conducted in hallways and stairways without privacy, solicitors have to vie for a place early in the list so their clients do not have to wait all day, and lay litigants face a bewildering lack of information.

The chaotic and stressful picture of the way child care cases are handled in many of the country’s district courts is presented in the latest report of the Child Care Law Reporting Project (CCLRP) published today.

Reporters attended 35 courts covering each of the 24 district court areas between October and January last to get an overview of the problems facing both parents and practitioners.

While some cases were held in modern court venues with reasonable facilities on designated days, most took place on the same days as lengthy criminal, civil and/or family law lists, sometimes in a cluster in one part of the day, sometimes interspersed throughout the day, sometimes in courtrooms with appalling acoustics and no facilities to hear video link evidence from children, and sometimes in the judge’s own chambers.

CCLRP director Carol Coulter said the findings underline the urgency of creating a specialist family court with dedicated judges exclusively hearing child care cases on designated days in venues with all the necessary facilities.

“It is clear from the above review of all the districts that in some of them the courts are severely overworked, which cannot but have an effect on how child care proceedings are dealt with,” she said. “In a quarter of the courts we attended, child care was included in general lists, meaning that vulnerable families had to attend court along with those accused of crime.

“Even where child care is included in family law lists, there can be a danger of tense and aggressive scenes around the court, especially where there are allegations of domestic violence. Privacy for all the litigants and witnesses is often lacking, there is sometimes limited seating and no access to food, water or hot beverages.”

Lack of information was a major problem, with people often having to rely on a friendly garda to assist them while straining to hear a court official shout the name of the next case over the waiting crowds, all the time afraid to leave to use a nearby cafe or toilet in case they missed being called.

“Specialist family courts, with specially trained judges and court staff, in a number of venues around the country, would mean that what are often vulnerable families could have their cases dealt with sensitively in a suitable environment, where their privacy would be assured,” said Ms Coulter.

She noted that many of the child care cases involved extensions of interim care orders and questioned whether it was necessary that extensions be formally applied for every 28 days.

The majority were granted on consent, she said, suggesting 28 days is not sufficient time for either parents or child care authorities to address the problem at the root of the order or make decisions as to whether a full care order was warranted.

Lack of facilities at Kildare courthouses 

The district court in Co Kildare is extremely busy as it serves a commuter area with a growing population — yet it has just one resident judge and one of the three court venues, Kilcock, closed in 2016, so all sittings have been relocated to Naas, which also takes an overflow from Athy.

Naas has two dedicated family law days, including childcare cases, each month — but there are still long lists. There was just one meeting room available on the day and children were waiting in a foyer where two prisoners in handcuffs were also waiting.

Athy courthouse was built in the 1850s and last refurbished in 2001. It had one general use consultation room available on the day for a court list that ran to 139 cases which were a mix of criminal, family and childcare. There is no reception or designated waiting area in the building. On the day of attendance, there were crowds waiting outside the building including mothers with toddlers in buggies.

The courtroom was also crowded. It was an unusually warm day and the central heating was programmed to be on. The facilities manager said that the roof windows could not be opened because there was a risk of birds entering the building. The air conditioning was on and it was difficult to hear because the extractor was quite loud.

There were no facilities for video link evidence or showing DVDs of children’s interviews. There was a water dispenser in the public toilet but it had not been serviced since 2005. Court began at 11am on the day, but the first child care case was not heard until 4.50pm.

During the hearing of one case, the court heard that a note had been received from the main office stating that late applications could not be accommodated due to the significant workload.

‘People are standing cheek-by-jowl waiting for their case’ 

Galway city courthouse hears most child care cases for the city and the surrounding areas of Clifden, Kilronan and Derrynea. It is a 19th century building which has not been recently refurbished. There is a circular entrance hall with a small waiting area off it which serves several courtrooms over two floors.

On family law days, all the parties and their lawyers congregate in this area, outside the door to the courtroom where family law is being heard.

The report stated: “There are very few chairs, meaning that people are standing cheek-by-jowl waiting for their case to be called. Other cases, which can include prisoners in handcuffs, take place in the other courtrooms. All District Court family law is heard on the same day: domestic violence, maintenance disputes, and so on, as well as child care.” The judge hears short cases and consents first so a child care case where evidence has to be given is unlikely to start before lunchtime or later if there is a contested private family law case ahead of it.

“A Garda calls people into court. Lawyers familiar with the system, or lay litigants who have learned how the system works, lobby the Garda to convince her that their case is short, so that they will be called as soon as possible.

“The Garda, who has been doing this for years, is patient and courteous with everyone and does her best to keep the cases running through smoothly, including helping lay litigants, but the length of the list makes the situation difficult for everyone. Lay litigants, and lawyers who are not familiar with the system, will find it difficult to negotiate.” There were 61 cases listed on the day. Just five were child care cases but they did not start until noon and even then they were interspersed with private family law cases.

Dedicated sittings 

Cork City’s Washington St courthouse is one of the country’s better venues for child care cases and it has two dedicated afternoon sittings a week. It also has the same judge presiding over those sittings each week, unlike other districts which can have to rely on moveable judges.

The report notes: “The practitioners are very familiar with the judge’s expectations and with each other, which makes for the smooth running of the list.” Consultation rooms are available on request and the parties generally wait together directly outside the courtoom where their hearing will take place, while the court register comes out to call the next case.

The courtroom which usually hosts the child care list has no facilities for viewing video evidence but other rooms are so equipped and can be used if necessary.

One issue raised is that, because criminal matters are held in a separate courthouse, there is no holding area available if a party to a case is being brought from prison.