The High Court has directed that a troubled boy with Asperger's Syndrome is to be placed in a specialised unit in the US because there is no suitable place for him here.
The court was told experts considered it unsafe, from the point of view of the boy or his mother, for him to live at home. He had threatened his mother and also threatened suicide. The application for the 14-year-old to be placed in a unit in Nebraska was made to Ms Justice Laffoy yesterday by Mr John Rogers SC, for a health board, and with the consent of the boy's mother.
The judge was told the boy had shown no resistance to going to the US but was understandably fearful. The boy's father had had no role in his upbringing and his mother was his sole guardian, Mr Rogers said. The boy, an only child, is expected to remain in the US for about a year, the judge heard, and arrangements would be made for his mother to visit him.
Mr Rogers told the court the boy had been placed in a unit here since last June but was not making any progress. All the experts dealing with him believed there was no unit here which could address his needs.
The only possible option identified was Ballydowd special care unit in Lucan, Co Dublin, but it could only take him for three months and he required longer-term care.
The judge heard the boy had lived with grandparents until he was aged six, when he went to live with his mother. He had displayed increasingly out of control behaviour and had been excluded from a number of schools. He was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and conduct and attachment disorders.
After hearing a number of affidavits from childcare experts and hearing from the child's mother that she agreed with and understood the proposal to send the boy to the US, Ms Justice Laffoy made orders directing arrangements be made for the placement of the boy in the Nebraska unit. She returned the matter to July 15th next.