A high court judge expressed concern yesterday that a "profoundly disturbed" girl had absconded from Eastern Health Board care on a number of occasions and returned claiming to have taken drugs and engaged in unprotected sex.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly said the 16-year-old girl, who is detained in a secure EHB unit, had been receiving a contraceptive injection but had lately been refusing it.
He asked Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, for the EHB, to convey the court's concerns about the "relative ease" with which the girl appeared to have managed to abscond from its custody on several occasions. He said the girl had a propensity for getting involved in dangerous situations.
The girl was profoundly disturbed, and her case had been before the court for some time.
The court has heard the girl had performed very well in the Junior Certificate but some time after that her behaviour had deteriorated. Yesterday Mr Justice Kelly was told there has been some progress in her general behaviour.
Mr Cormac Corrigan, for the girl, said there were still concerns about her, and the case should be kept under review.
Mr Justice Kelly directed that the girl remain in the EHB secure unit and returned the case for review later this term.
Also yesterday the judge was told that a troubled boy whose case had been before the courts frequently for almost two years now had returned to abusing drugs.
Mr MacEntee said the 16-year-old was in a perilous situation and, while the board was doing all it could to help him, there was not a lot it could do because the boy would not co-operate.
He said the boy's parents were not keen on their son going to a place in England, but this might be the only thing that could save him. Even if his parents encouraged the boy to try the English placement, if he was determined not to be there, it would not work.
Mr Corrigan, for the boy, said there might be a possibility of a place outside Dublin and asked that the case be put back for a time while options were explored.
Mr Justice Kelly said he was at his "wit's end" in relation to the boy, for whom everything had been tried.
If the boy was set on self-destruction, the judge said, he could not tie up scarce resources in trying to provide for him. There were other children just as disturbed who were willing to co-operate. Mr Justice Kelly said he would adjourn the matter generally.
