THE HSE is investigating claims that a 16-year-old boy in care was left overnight in an internet café because there was no suitable place to accommodate him.
The claim was made by Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter yesterday in the Dáil, who also revealed that Daniel McAnaspie (17), who is from Finglas, Dublin, and has been missing for 13 days, is in State care.
Fears are growing for Daniel’s safety. He was last seen drinking in a housing estate in Blanchardstown in the early hours of Friday, February 26th. Garda sniffer-dog teams began searching open ground in parts of north Dublin this week.
“We have a grossly dysfunctional, unco-ordinated child protection service which continues up to today to fail our young people,” said Mr Shatter, who asked Minister for Children Barry Andrews to intervene in the case of the teen left in the internet café.
Mr Shatter said the 16-year-old boy had been going through the care system for about two years and was the responsibility of Bridge House in Ballyfermot, Dublin. He said last Tuesday night the boy was left in an internet café because the HSE could not find a suitable place for him.
He was becoming drug-dependent and was falling into a life where he would be exposed to drug-running and prostitution, he added.
“This young man could potentially be another Tracey Fay . . . emergency social workers who are dealing with this young man are at their wits end to get a response from management within the HSE,” said Mr Shatter, referring to an 18-year-old mother of two who died while in State care in 2002.
Last week Mr Shatter took the unusual step of publishing a HSE-commissioned report into her death, which was completed in 2008 but never published.
The report is scathing about the standard of care given to Tracey.
Mr Shatter also raised the case of a second child in care who has severe mental health difficulties. He said it was believed the boy has suffered serious sexual abuse.
“A psychiatric assessment took place in St James’s Hospital a couple of weeks ago, but there has been no follow-up. Essentially, this young man is floating between two social work areas, Naas and Tralee, neither of which will take responsibility for dealing with him.”
The Fine Gael TD said constitutional amendments were not required to solve the difficulties faced by these children. “What is needed is to actively resolve the systematic failures and structural difficulties within the HSE that the minister is struggling to resolve.”
Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay said the claims made by Mr Shatter highlighted the need for an out-of-hours service for young people in care.
“It is the case that there is no out-of-hours social work service available to young people. They are left at the start of the night to contact the Garda, who they may not have a good relationship with.” He said this was a fundamental weakness of the child-protection system.
Mr Andrews has asked the HSE to investigate the cases.
A statement from the HSE noted the executive “takes the matters raised in the Houses of the Oireachtas today very seriously and is satisfied appropriate care arrangements are in place for these children”.