Catalogue of physical and sexual abuse of children in report on childcare cases

Four children taken into care by the Health Service Executive were "crying silently", did not know what toilet paper was for and had never used cutlery, a report on their care has revealed.

In another case, gardaí found a three-year-old and her one-year-old sibling with her mother and six or seven very intoxicated adults. The three-year-old was on a bed, "wet, dirty, crying and very hungry" and later made disclosures of sexual abuse.

No funding
"Her disclosures were considered to be credible and consistent," the court was told. The mother told the court she had agreed to residential drug support but there was no funding available for it. The judge granted a full care order for the children.

The cases were among more than 30 published yesterday as part of the Child Care Law Reporting Project. It is the second volume of reports from childcare hearings in Ireland involving cases where the HSE sought to take children into care or supervise them in their homes.

They include cases of children who have suffered physical and sexual abuse as well as non-accidental injury, at the hands of a parent or carer. Alcohol abuse, drug abuse and mental illness feature in many of the anonymised cases from courts all over the country.

The cases are normally held in private and the project was established in 2012 under the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2007 to allow for controlled reporting. The reports show the courts are sometimes critical of the care children received from the HSE and the steps it has taken to meet their needs.

In one case the court only made a full care order for five months because it was not satisfied an adequate care plan had been drawn up and in another the court ordered the HSE to provide speech and language therapy “forthwith” for a child.

Project director Dr Carol Coulter said further reports would be published during the year, along with relevant material on the child protection system. She said the project showed "problems highlighted in the first volume, of alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness and domestic violence, affect families in all parts of the country".

Psychiatric hospital
In a case involving four African children, their guardian ad litem, appointed by the court, said she had very serious concerns about them. The mother of the children was in a psychiatric hospital and the children were in foster care. The guardian told the court the children cried silently and didn't make any sound.

"It's not normal behaviour for a child . . . They want to give the right answer and you have to be careful. They're far too compliant in my view," she said.

Toilet paper
They showed fear when asked questions and didn't know what toilet paper was for or understand why they had to shower and did not know how to use cutlery. One child had spoken of being slapped very hard across the face by the mother and of a sister aged three being put in a box. The judge extended their interim care order to keep them with their foster parents.