Regular reports of disturbing cases show the State has again been failing some of our most vulnerable children. Amid talk of a giveaway budget, how about allocating enough resources to provide proper care for them, even if there are no votes in it?In her 17-year existence, she has been physically, emotionally and sexually abused. She has suffered neglect. Her mother is in jail. She has witnessed “horrific” domestic violence committed against her sister by a partner.
Undoubtedly, “M” meets the criteria for the high-support residential care necessary for young people at severe risk. So why was her case brought before the Supreme Court? Because, the Child and Family Agency, had refused to apply for a court order to detain her in a special care unit on the grounds that it had no place available. The same rationale applied to “B”, a vulnerable teenage boy diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, among other conditions.
The State has again been failing children in its care for at least the past decade. In 2013 the Children’s Ombudsman recommended that a strategic development plan for all children in residential care be urgently devised., targeting the creation of 104 extra beds, 41 of them to be provided by voluntary services. Those beds have yet to materialise, primarily because staff cannot be found for what is very challenging, low-paid work.
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