A teenager in care with more than 20 criminal charges against him is living in a homeless hostel, the Dublin District Family Court has heard.
The charges against the boy almost all relate to property damage and violence at the various residential units he has been placed in since coming into care.
His court-appointed guardian told Judge Brendan Toale the boy does not cope well with residential units or with people "coming and going from his life" and cannot continue to be moved from placement to placement.
The guardian said the units and their staff rota systems mirrored the boy’s early childhood, when he was passed from one relative to another, which was one of the reasons he was taken into care in the first place.
The boy was discharged from a rural residential unit recently after he allegedly assaulted a member of staff and damaged property, the court was told.
Outburst
The outburst followed news that a relative had died and staff insisting he travel to the relative’s funeral by public transport because on a previous journey he had pulled up the handbrake of the unit’s car.
The boy’s social worker said the boy was due in court in various parts of the country after incidents in residential units.
He is not attending school and had “scuppered” home tutoring at one unit by “asking for things that were not possible”.
When he was discharged from the most recent residential unit he spent time with relatives before going to the homeless hostel.
The social worker said an advert would be placed on the Child and Family Agency’s fostering website seeking a “bespoke” foster placement for the boy in his local area.
There were also two more residential units that might take him. If this failed, the agency would consider applying for a place in a secure care unit.
The guardian said the need for a robust foster carer for the boy was urgent and such a carer would be better found through local community and youth groups rather than through “normal bureaucratic structures”.
Judge Toale noted only one out of more than 20 criminal charges against the boy had “not occurred in the care system”. He said in another similar case, it had been suggested a boy had been “criminalised” by being placed in residential units incapable of holding him.
Charges
The guardian said there “certainly was a correlation” between charges against the boy and residential units, though he believed the teenager was “capable of criminal charges outside the residential setting”.
"He is beyond the control of his family, the Child and Family Agency and his social worker, who is doing a sterling job," he said. "We have to try and keep him safe."
Judge Toale adjourned the case to next month. He said it was a matter for the agency to decide whether to make an application for secure care for the boy. The foster-carer approach should be “explored as a matter of urgency”, he said, as it was “entirely appropriate” and “may be the best chance” the boy had.
