Baby left in buggy down a lane while mother smoked heroin

A baby boy was taken into care after a garda saw him in his buggy down a lane as his mother smoked heroin. The mother, who was under 18, was placed in a residential unit.

The case is among 20 childcare cases detailed in the latest report from the Child Care Law Reporting Project, led by Dr Carol Coulter. It publishes regular reports from the courts which make orders under the Child Care Act.

In one case, described as “very sad” in court, a full care order was granted in the case of an infant boy after a 14-month interim order expired. His young mother, who was homeless and had chronic addiction issues, had had a “very tough start in life”.

Her baby son was taken into interim care after a garda saw him in his buggy down a lane as his mother smoked heroin. The mother, who was under 18, was placed in a residential unit. When 18, she had to leave and find private rented accommodation.

Interim order

The court heard she had a “beautiful relationship with her son and innate parenting skills”. If she could deal with her addiction she could care for her son. The judge granted an interim order which would expire when she was 21, urging her to reform her life.

Fourteen months later, however, the young mother had become “fully overwhelmed by her addiction” and was sleeping in a tent. She had not engaged with drug services. The mother, who did not attend the hearing, had deteriorated rapidly after the care order.

The guardian ad litem said observing access between mother and her son “was a pleasure”, that “he was so warm with her, loving like his mam”, but “she was overwhelmed” and “self-destructed”.

The judge granted a full care order until the boy was 18 and asked the Child and Family Agency to encourage her to attend drug rehabilitation.

These latest cases, published on Tuesday, include a number described as “exceptionally long” – including one lasting 2½ years – raising serious questions about long delays interviewing children about alleged sexual abuse. They underlined the need for a dedicated family court to hear cases in a timely manner, said Dr Coulter.

Appropriate

In one case, after 68 days of hearings, the judge asked whether the District Court was appropriate to hear complex child-care cases. The case had been preceded by prolonged interim care order hearings before another judge.

Numerous witnesses had been called including social workers, psychologists, paediatricians, foster carers and neuroscientists. The case involved five children under the age of 18. Initially they were in care due to neglect but allegations of sexual abuse emerged. The judge found the abuse happened and the parents knew about it, and granted full care orders for all five children.

The length of time involved raised, said the judge, “serious questions about whether the District Court has the rules and procedures in place to handle such complex cases . . . district courts tend to go quite slowly.”

Another case saw supervision orders refused in a case involving an Irish couple who had fled to the UK to have their baby. British social workers planned to take the baby straight into care having assessed the mother to lack capacity and the father as aggressive.

The court, however, heard the mother “related to the child in a warm and caring way” and the father, though he “seemed odd”, was able to parent. They had a good relationship with the social worker. The judge declined to make a supervision order.