Children taken into care

D

davido

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Can anybody provide further detail about the family from Kells who's children were taken from them by the Health Services on Friday? I heard the father on the radio on Thursday, on Newstalk I think. Three of their four children are autistic and he was complaining about the lack of support his family were getting from the Health Services. He seemed to be a very decent, genuine father who was struggling to raise four children, under difficult circumstances, with little or no support from the state. The next thing I heard was that their children were taken away from them on Friday and they were threatened with arrest. Does anybody know more about this because, based on the little I know, I am appalled.
 
Can anybody provide further detail about the family from Kells ...

The newspapers have been dealing extensively with this incident if you have one handy.
 
It's one of these very difficult situations where the authorities have to make a judgement call. They are in a no win situation. If they think that the kids are at risk and do nothing, they will be criticised. If they take the kids into care they will be criticised. And they can't talk about it publicly, whereas the family can say what they want.

Brendan
 
On a more general issue, it always seems a bit strange to me that you can regularly see heroin addicts and alcoholics and others who can hardly take care of themselves never mind others/dependents traipsing their kids around the streets of Dublin and others sending them out to beg on street corners and "the authorities" don't consider that these children might be at risk. I would have assumed that breaking up families should be a last resort and only done where there is a prima facie case that it is in the best interests of all concerned but it seems that there are seemingly obvious cases in which it is not done for some reason.
 
Dead on Clubman- junkies and dipsos are rarely separated from their kids. What chance do these kids have when their parents cant look after themselves!
I heard on the news last night that the family were looking for help and because they did the authorities deemed that they mustn't be able to look afterthem and took them away with little notice!
 
I heard the view (ventured by the husband) that the suddenness of care order had more to do with the fact that they'd had the temerity to criticise publicly the lack of support provided by the Health Board, over the previous years... :|

Mind you, as Brendan said, we've only been allowed one side of the story so far. It'll be an interesting one to follow!
 
Today's Irish Times reported that the authorities have requested that the parents present themselves for psychiatric assessment and that they have agreed to this. Wonder when they'll get around to assessing all those junkies and winos with kids who are wandering the streets of Dublin and presumably other towns/cities... :|
 
Just to pick up on what Clubman said about drug addicts etc... looking after their children. I work in Dublin 7 and see a lot of children being brought around by parents that are severely under the influence of drugs. The thing that upsets me the most is that most of these kids have no access to proper nourishment .... they live off things like crips and bags of sweets. I also worked with parents like these for a while and became very disillusioned by their attitudes but also by the complete disregard of the state and the official channels towards children in these situations. I met one little girl (aged 7) whose Mother used to get her to inject heroin in to her veins (into the Mothers veins). Childhood is supposed to be a happy, carefree time, but these children are neglected to the point where it is almost as though they don't exist. And yet, it is very, very rare that these children are ever put into care.
 
I work in Dublin 7 and see a lot of children being brought around by parents that are severely under the influence of drugs.

I've seen this is practically every postal district of Dublin - Dublin 7 is no special case.

And yet, it is very, very rare that these children are ever put into care.

Yes - it's absolutely ridiculous and nobody in their right mind could argue that children in such situations are not at risk.
 
I think you may have misinterpreted me Clubman, I was merely making a general reference to the fact that I work in Dublin 7.
 
Regarding this case, I personally know the family involved and I can assure you, the authorities are doing more damage to those autistic kids by removing them from their familiar environment and routines. The parents involved are taking care of the kids between them 24/7 so being away from their parents and their familiar surroundings will have detremental effect.
 
care

I read in the paper that after talks with the social workers, the parents put the children into "voluntary" care. I know people working in a certain office of social workers in a certain health board area and they try and get all placements to be "voluntary" rather than enforced. I also know a woman who these social workers advised to put her children into voluntary care until she "sorted herself out". (she wasn't on drugs/drink just had a lot of personal stuff going on) So she put them in voluntary care, and eventually sorted herself out, was taking the kids every weekend and was in talks with the social workers about getting her kids back but they were SO slow to do anything about it. Eventually after another weekend visit, the kids didn't want to go back to the foster home so she rang the social workers, told them out straight that she was able to manage now thank you very much and was keeping her kids. Social worker A was pleased that she was managing and told her he'd follow up visits with the family support worker etc. while social worker B, in the same office was demanding that A call the guards and have the children (2 and 5) forcibly removed!
 
Re: care

I met one little girl (aged 7) whose Mother used to get her to inject heroin in to her veins (into the Mothers veins). Childhood is supposed to be a happy, carefree time, but these children are neglected to the point where it is almost as though they don't exist. And yet, it is very, very rare that these children are ever put into care.
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This lark makes me laugh when we have people saying that we've never had it so good! Its very sad indeed! Poor kids!
 
Re: care

The Celtic Tiger is a bit of a middle class myth when there are still thousands of children in this country going to school without a breakfast and thousands of children who will never be given a chance to achieve their potential
 
Autism

I was fascinated by the Prime Time piece on the O'Hara family and can't imagine how they are able to cope with the basics of day to day life on very little sleep.

The thing which interested me most was the reporter's statement 'they only knew that their four children were autistic following the birth of their 5th child'.

I'm amazed at this as there is a considerable age gap between the 2nd child and the 5th child and according to an autism related website 'Autism is usually diagnosed by the age of 3'.

I don't know very much about it, but have a friend whose child is autistic and was very clearly so by the age of 3. He needs a tremendous amount of care and attention and she has decided not to try for any more children as she wouldn't be able to care for them in the way she would like to.

I thought Mr O'Hara put his case very well and hope they get some help.
 
Cutting through Sampson's Lane linking Henry Street and Moore Street this evening around 18:30 and spotted a group of about ten junkies/alcos drinking and whatever else on a corner with at least one kiddie in a buggy in tow. No sign of "the authorities" in this case... :rolleyes
 
"autism is usual diagnosed by age 3"

That is providing you receive proper assessment facilities & don't have to sit on a public waiting list for a number of years..................... A friend of mine had her child on a waiting list for 4 years before he was assessed and even then she was informed that they couldn't make a firm diagnoses without proper resources!
 
No sign of "the authorities" in this case...
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What do you expect - Roaming herds of social workers traipsing the streets in search of unattended children? Unless somebody gives them a call to let them know, I can't see how you could reasonably expect the authorities to act in scenarios like the one you describe.
 
Capital city centre streets regularly patrolled by Gardai are not exactly hidden Ireland. It's not unreasonable to expect "the authorities" to notice what's going on in cases such as this especially given that they can muster resources to raid a private home in small town and take children away from their parents in another case.
 
especially given that they can muster resources to raid a private home in small town and take children away from their parents in another case.
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There is no valid comparison. It is not a case of either/or. The resources used to address the O'Hara family would not have otherwise been used to chase families around inner-city Dublin. Note that I'm not defending what happened to the O'Hara family - I just don't see the relevance of the example you gave. We might as well complain about the politicians spending money travelling round the world for Paddy's Day instead of chasing families around inner-city Dublin.
 
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