I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter and I thank the Minister for coming to the House to debate the case of a 12 year old boy which was heard yesterday in the High Court. This boy has been in care since the age of five. He suffers from ADHD and has been described as very damaged. The boy had been in the Ballydowd special care unit since September 2001. Yesterday, the health board with responsibility for his care, the Northern Area Health Board, and the manager of Ballydowd sought to move him from this special care unit to a remand centre because they were unable to meet his needs. They propose that he should be sent to Oberstown boys centre for young offenders.
The 12 year old is to be placed in a unit with seven other boys whose average age is almost 15 years, all of whom have criminal convictions and a history of repeat offending. In other words, the health board and the management of the centre are attempting to criminalise the boy, which flies in the face of the principles and spirit of the Children Act. It is beyond belief that a State agency, charged with responsibility for providing therapeutic care for troubled children, has effectively refused to do its job. It has washed its hands of its responsibility to this child and has sought to place this vulnerable child in a care setting which in all probability will damage him further.
This shameful and sorry episode is further evidence that the health authorities have shown themselves to be utterly incompetent. As a member of the Eastern Regional Health Authority and the Northern Area Health Board, it gives me no pleasure to say this. I have listened to too many plans, too many promises and too many undertakings given to the courts, most of which were not met, to now have any confidence in the health board to provide health care. The Minister must take responsibility for much of the problem. The care of the most vulnerable children, those displaying serious behavioural problems, has always been the poor relation of Government policy and investment. For various reasons we are now seeing an increasing number of disturbed children who require high support therapeutic care. Many of these children are dysfunctional. However, the real scandal is that the care system, which is supposed to cater for them, is seriously dysfunctional.
Following the 1994 FN case and the 1998 High Court order directing the State authorities to provide appropriate therapeutic care facilities for troubled children, the Ballydowd unit was built. It is a state-of-the-art unit and cost taxpayers almost €10 million. The unit is supposed to accommodate 24 children, but there have never been more than eight children present. There are currently only five children there, while many other children must wait for services. After just two years in operation, this unit has utterly failed to provide the service for which it was intended. There is no clear policy on the approach to meeting the needs of these children. There is no consistency in the ethos or staffing and there is a reprehensible shortage of professional therapeutic services. Physical shortcomings and limitations in the unit abound. The forensic psychologist involved in yesterday's case, who had seen the boy on several occasions over many months, advised strongly against the move to Oberstown and claimed that the care system had failed the boy and that another move could be interpreted by the boy as another rejection.
This is a tragic situation for this boy and indeed for many other children who depend on the Minister of State. Sadly, an increasing number of children, both boys and girls, are in need of care provided by the State, the responsibility for which clearly lies with the Minister of State. Too often, they are met with rejection, dysfunction, incompetence and disinterest by the State. It is now up to the Minister of State to take responsibility for the shameful situation and to provide appropriate care for the most vulnerable children, for whom he is legally and morally responsible.
