The lack of beds for vulnerable teenagers in desperate need of secure care is an “absolute disgrace” for which the powers that be should hang their heads in shame, a High Court judge has said.
Mr Justice John Jordan made the comments during the hearing last week of six cases involving highly vulnerable children whom the court has ordered should be taken into care but who remain at large.
Last year the judge heard evidence from the secretaries-general of the Department of Children and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on the issue of increased pay for those working in the State’s understaffed secure-care centres, after which he expressed the view that increased pay was “a core issue” in resolving the staffing crisis.
During last Thursday’s sitting of the “no beds list” he was told one of the children was being allocated a secure care bed.
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He also granted an application from the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, for a care order in respect of a teenage girl who was being sexually exploited by older males.
As there was no bed available for the girl, at the end of the sitting there were still six teenagers on the “no beds” list.
The care orders, which usually are for three months, sometimes expire without the child being taken into care.
The court heard that of the 26 beds in the State’s three care centres, only 14 are available because of staff shortages and difficulties with public-sector pay grades.
Some children awaiting a bed were in danger of committing suicide, the court heard, many were abusing drugs, while others were being sexually and criminally groomed. One, aged 13 but who “looks like he is 10″, was living in a hotel room.
The care orders were being granted on the application of Tusla, but the court was being told by Tusla it does not have the beds available to give effect to the orders.
The agency was saying it was unable to recruit staff, but “why should it be that a state agency can avoid complying with a High Court order?” the judge said.
“It is exactly as if the child has had no benefit from the court order that the agency got from the court. It is an affront to the system of law that exists,” he said.
The judge granted orders so the transcripts from the in-camera cases could be shared with the Department of Children and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
Commenting on the case of a 15-year-old in danger of suicide and who was on the “no bed list”, the judge said the child’s life was at increased risk as she was not in care.
He was commenting in the hope that “someone in the agency and in the government departments will hear and understand what the emergency situation is”.
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