Family Court: Boy with mental health issues has trouble leaving house

The Child and Family Agency, Tusla, is to examine whether the foster family of a boy in care who has mental health difficulties can retain their foster allowance payment after the boy turns 18, the Dublin District Family Court has heard.

The boy, who has bipolar disorder and behavioural problems, has trouble leaving the house, does not attend school and has pets living in his bedroom, Judge Brendan Toale was told. His parents were not present in court, though both were represented.

Ordinarily, when a teenager in care turns 18 he is transferred from the agency to an aftercare service. He may leave his foster placement, be placed in aftercare accommodation and, if unemployed, can claim jobseeker’s or other allowances. Foster care allowance usually only continues to be paid if the teenager remains with the foster family and in full-time education.

As part of a review of the boy’s case, the social worker said the foster family was extremely dedicated and wanted to keep the boy.

Mental health

His mental health remained fragile, she said, his quality of life was poor and he needed a lot of encouragement to look after himself. He also needed to learn independence and social skills, such as how to manage money and prepare his own lunch.

The social worker said once the boy turned 18 next year, he would have to claim his own allowances, but an argument could be made to continue foster allowance. Also giving evidence, the boy’s court-appointed guardian said the boy’s pets were his life.

“His animals live in his bedroom; that’s his world,” she said.

He could not deal with any concept of aftercare, she said, and his psychiatrist believed pushing him to change too soon could cause a breakdown. She said the issue of funding had to be addressed.

Judge Toale queried whether “the usual rules might be relaxed”. The agency said the issue would be discussed at a meeting at the end of the month. The case was adjourned for further review in September.

In a separate case, three primary-level children, taken into temporary care for a third time because of their mother’s mental health difficulties, “very much relied on each other”, the court heard.

The children’s court-appointed guardian said the younger girl told her she would be alright if anything happened because if she was hungry she could make toast and her older sister could bring her to school.

Sibling support

She said it was important the children, who were living with two foster families, had a lot of contact. “These are children who have relied on each other for support and even just physical care,” she said.

She said the children were taken into care because of “not wilful” neglect by their mother, who spent a period in a psychiatric unit. The children had missed a lot of school and spent a lot of time indoors, the guardian said. Their father had died.

Judge Toale asked why the children were not all together in one foster placement. Their social worker said the agency could not find a suitable placement for all three.

The judge extended the interim care order for the children for 28 days. He said it was “another case where the main difficulty or issue was mental health”. It was the third admission to care for the three children for “more or less the same reason” and it was in their interests it be comprehensively dealt with, he said.

In another case, involving an infant and a toddler of parents who had travelled from another EU country, the judge extended an interim care order for six weeks with the consent of the parents.

But, he said, under Brussels II EU regulations on family law and jurisdiction, the court would have to determine the habitual residence of the children before another extension could be sought.

“We can park it, but only very briefly,” he said.