Some of the State’s most vulnerable children are ending up in care because they cannot access mental health services, a hard-hitting report published on Wednesday warns.
The report, from the Child Care Law Reporting Project (CCLRP), says children’s distress is being left to escalate and deteriorate, their families are being forcibly fractured and vulnerable parents are being left unsupported.
Human rights risk being breached and fair procedures undermined, while children are left too long in care, not reunited with families and in some cases left exposed to sexual exploitation, in a family law system in “dire need of reform”.
The project, led by Dr Carol Coulter, was established in 2012 under the Child Care Act to report on and examine court orders made under the Act, mainly relating to taking children into care.
Its eighth analytical study, Ripe for Reform, draws on 403 District Court and High Court cases between 2018 and 2021 over its 114 pages.
The children faced a range of issues, including abuse, chronic neglect, non-accidental injuries, sexual assault, homelessness, domestic violence, exposure to inappropriate sexual material or behaviour, parental addiction and self-harm.
Some children were living in homes in disrepair, without food, appropriate clothing or hygiene. There were reports of infestations of head lice, poor school attendance and missing of medical appointments.
In High Court cases concerning 15 children, a number of complex issues arose, including about who should care for children where their father murders their mother; inadequate protections for girls in care at risk of sexual exploitation, including by organised gangs; inadequate guidance on meeting the needs of transgender young people in care; and the legal requirement for wardship applications in cases where an anorexic child requires naso-gastric feeding.
‘Failure’ of social services
A “depressing feature” of many cases is the “failure” of social services to respond within acceptable times to children’s emotional, behavioural and psychological problems.
“Time and again, the child’s history provided to the court included a description of where help was sought for a child... but the request went unmet,” the report says, adding that “the child’s wellbeing and behaviour deteriorated”.
Often, clearly distressed children “did not meet the eligibility criteria to access support from mental health services” ,while others including sex-abuse victims, were “subject [to] childcare proceedings for protracted periods... without... any therapeutic support”.
Speaking ahead of publication, Dr Coulter said: “We have seen cases where a child experiencing mental health issues is admitted to care or made a ward of court as part of a crisis intervention.
“In some of these cases, the parent, far from failing the child, may seek the placement as a means of providing the child with safety and support, and where they have sought mental health services and not received them.”
Delays completing child and parental assessments, obtaining expert reports and accessing treatments were escalating difficulties and thwarting family reunifications, the report adds.
Parental addiction
Consideration should be given to the establishment of an independent service to provide “qualified expert evidence in child and family proceedings and recommend referrals to appropriate supports and therapies”, the report states.
Parental addiction “is the core reason for a significant proportion of children coming into and remaining in care”, it says. “Many of these parents have the potential with support to overcome their addiction, to be able to parent safely and to be reunited with their children.”
Family drug and alcohol courts “have had a positive impact on the rate of family reunification... reducing the numbers of children in care” in other jurisdictions and “been found to be a cost-effective intervention”.
The Covid-19 pandemic created a “perfect storm”, where at-risk children were seen less by teachers and other caring professionals, home environments became more difficult, services were closed, family accesses were reduced or denied and court hearings were adjourned.
“Unless additional resources are provided urgently to the Courts Service, children may need to wait for even longer for a hearing date in some parts of the country,” states the report.
In all, 22 recommendations are made, including the urgent establishment of a dedicated family court; a time limit on how long a child can be in interim care; measures to ensure the voice of the child is heard in care proceedings; and ensuring the mental health needs of children in care or at risk of entering care are met.
