Children with complex needs are being kept in inappropriate facilities, including hotels and holiday homes, due to a lack of suitable placements, and the problem must be urgently addressed by politicians, according to the Child Law Project (CLP).
A District Court judge, according to the CLP’s latest reports published on Wednesday, had described as a “shambles” the situation of a teenage boy placed in a holiday home, saying it was “beyond belief” the State was paying €780,000 annually for an arrangement that was not compliant with standards of the Health Information Quality Authority (Hiqa).
The HSE has been criticised for a lack of planning to meet the needs of children with disabilities, the reports also noted.
Dr Maria Corbett, chief executive of the CLP, said the lack of suitable placements was “deeply worrying” and required “urgent political attention”.
Residential care services often require engagement from both Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, and the HSE but there “appears to be difficulties in interagency working”, she said. “The lack of care placements is undermining progress made over the past 20 years. There is now an urgent need for an interdepartmental mechanism between the Departments of Children and Health to find a way out of this crisis.”
The project has published reports of 68 cases where the State sought to have a child taken into, or kept, in care, including a Ukrainian teenage girl taken into care as a suspected victim of human trafficking.
The girl, who may have an intellectual disability, came here in the company of a man, whom she knew but was not a relation. Social workers at the airport were concerned after interviewing her, including that she may have suffered neglect and been groomed in her home country, and she was taken into care under an emergency care order.
[ Suspected child victim of trafficking from Ukraine taken into emergency careOpens in new window ]
CLP executive director Dr Carol Coulter said, while most Ukrainians arriving here were in family groups, a small number of separated children were arriving on their own.
“With such a large and chaotic movement of people across borders, trafficking and exploitation can arise,” she said. “The CFA is to be commended for its efforts to safeguard this child.”
The reports particularly focus on the lack of care placements because judges in various courts have noted that children with considerable needs are not being kept in suitable facilities.
Dr Corbett said, despite the efforts of the CFA, the number and type of placements that were needed did not exist, especially where the child had a disability or behavioural issues.
“This is leading to poor outcomes for children, and frustration on the part of the judges and all those involved in childcare proceedings.”
According to the CLP, the lack of appropriate placements is leaving the CFA with no alternative but to place some children in care in ad hoc settings, supported by care staff. Placement issues arose in 14 cases, including a 14-year-old boy who had to stay in a hotel room and two young children, of pre- and primary-school age, who were placed in residential care after foster care placements broke down.
In multiple cases, it was agreed a specialist placement was needed to keep a child safe and address their specific needs and behavioural difficulties, but no such placement was available.
Delays and difficulties in accessing suitable placements were often cited as a factor in the deterioration in a child’s wellbeing and behaviour, the reports noted.
Twenty-four cases which were the subject of the reports involve children who experienced parental neglect and abuse, often as a result of parental addiction or mental health difficulties. Seven children were brought into the care system as a result of their emotional, behavioural and mental health issues.
Ten cases, including the Ukranian girl, concerned separated children or unaccompanied minors who arrived here, often from war-torn counties. Twelve cases involved updates on how a child was getting on in care and a legal matter was in dispute in five of those.
One report explored issues raised in 10 High Court wards of court cases. Adult wards will be discharged under a new law introducing a system of assisted decisionmaking but children are not included in the new system. Despite an Oireachtas committee recommendation, the new law had not been amended to provide for 16 and 17 year olds to make decision about their healthcare treatment, Dr Corbett said.
