Public misconception of children's residential homes as detention centres has caused significant delays in the funding, planning and building of homes for some 4,000 children in State care.
Following planning objections and concerns over the provision of new centres in Clare, Tipperary, Dublin and the south-east, the national spokesman for the Resident Managers' Association (RMA), Mr Bernard Gloster, said a wider understanding of childcare provision is needed. The association represents the management of children's centres. Mr Gloster is also director of the voluntary agency, Mercy Childcare Service, which operates in the midwest region. He said public perception was often formed by the small number of High Court cases involving children and the lack of detention centres. "When the public then see a service being developed, they think that is what it is for.
"In some cases, public perception leads to misinformation and we come up against objections at the planning stage," he said.
In Co Clare, residents opposed building a children's residential home last year, one of three being built in the region by the Mercy Childcare Service in partnership with the MidWestern Health Board. A fourth high-support unit is being developed at an existing centre at Drombanna, outside Limerick, as part of a national strategy to move children out of large institutions.
The homes are usually for teenagers, representing up to 15 per cent of 400 children in health board care in the region. "Some 85 per cent to 90 per cent live in foster care with families. Generally these children come under the category of families not able to cope for social reasons, neglected or abused," Mr Gloster said. Planning permission for the Co Clare home was appealed to An Bord Pleanala which allowed the development to proceed. Residents of Knockadreheid at O'Brien's Bridge believed the home was not in keeping with the farming and family nature of the area and complained it would be on a tourist route. "O'Brien's Bridge was difficult because it represented a significant delay," Mr Gloster said. Planning permission for a similar home, which will house up to six children and will have an on-site classroom, has been granted in Roscrea, Co Tipperary. A total of 15 staff will provide 24-hour supervision in the £800,000 building.
But residents became concerned at the lack of consultation and sought a public meeting. A delegation had a meeting with health board officials and Mr Gloster - a second meeting is to be arranged.
Mr Noel Coonan, a Roscrea-based councillor and a health board member said many of the fears had been allayed. He said people felt misled when they originally saw the planning application by the Sisters of Mercy for a residential centre. "The main issue was the fear of the unknown. It was not explained to the public at the time. There were a lot of assumptions made and they were added to in the form of rumour. The vast majority are happy to accept it now."
Mr Gloster said that while he was happy to meet the Roscrea group, the planning process provided any consultation necessary for the public. Consultation was often confused with permission and public meetings often discussed irrelevant issues. "Our view as an agency caring for young people who have not done anything to anybody is, why should they need permission to live some place, other than the normal planning for buildings?"
He said local communities had often rejected the development of children's centres although there was a collective responsibility to care for the disadvantaged. Delays meant reapplying for funding under the National Development Plan. "There tends to be a public perception of criticism of State bodies such as health boards, the Department of Health and successive Government ministers for not doing enough.
"I would often say to people in that context, `Here we are making the most significant development for the most vulnerable children in the history of the State and yet we have a long way to go as a society in developing our understanding of these issues.' "