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Updated 22.55pm
THERE ARE OVER 6,500 children in State care in Ireland. These care orders appear before judges in the Family Courts system around the country on a daily basis.
TheJournal.ie spent a week observing cases in the Family Court. Here are a selection of the care orders that appeared before the courts:
Child A and B’s mother is in prison, while the father is no longer in the country. Both children are described as having “emotional” issues by social workers.
Child A was left alone by his mother at a Direct Provision Centre on a couple of occasions. The child was taken into care by an emergency care order. His father applied to to be the primary carer of the child.
A teenage boy lives in residential care and has had incidences with drugs. A family relative is concerned that he is not interacting with addiction services, but social workers say they can’t force him to.
A mother whose two children had been taken into care over three years ago was given back custody of her children in what the judge described as a “good news story”.
A case involving a child who is in foster care appeared before the court in which the foster parents had agreed to take the child on long-term, however, they then “changed their mind”. Social workers said they had serious concerns for the welfare of the child if she was forced to move to yet another foster home.
An extension of an interim care order was granted for two young babies, with the consent of the parents who are homeless. The father is in a rehab programme and is doing well. The plan is that custody will eventually be returned to the father.
An interim care order was extended for a young boy from the traveller community who is in residential care. The court heard that he has serious behavioural issues, putting the home where he is staying at risk.
A mother who is a recovering heroin addict told the court that her children are her life, which is why she left her partner and father of her children when he returned to drugs.
‘A Week in the Family Courts’ series will be running all this week on TheJournal.ie. Read what the groups working with children think of the children in State care situation in Ireland and what needs to be done to improve it here>>>
Tomorrow we will bring you domestic violence cases from the Family Courts and analysis of some of the issues.
First published 6.30am
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I grew up with a very abusive parent in rural Ireland. Everyone knew or guessed that things weren’t right for my siblings and me but did nothing to help or report the situation because people do not interfere in family afairs, especially in rural Ireland. I would have liked very much to have gotten more than 3 or 4 hours sleep every night before going to school or not to have been scared or worried all of the time. it’s all good and well to point fingers at state bodies and laws and courts and say they shouldn’t be given so much power, the alternative to this is pretty much what I went through and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, least of all children. Saying that the best place for a child is with their parents is actually offensive to me and people like me who spent years fixing themselves after their childhood with their family.
Well said dell. And I’m so sorry for what you went through.
These children need to be protected more. I really don’t think that putting them back into a situation where there has been alcohol or drug addiction is in the best interest of the child. Even if a parent is in recovery. It is too fragile a situation for a child to have to deal with. There is a lot of dysfunction in these families that damages children so much in the formative years of their lives. Once they reach a certain age their lives have been limited forever. It sounds cruel I know but I have just seen too many incidences of kids being put back into these dysfunctional situations. The parents should have to provide evidence of a solid track record before kids are returned to them.
That all sounds totally sensible as long as you assume that the state will provide better care. But the state’s track record is awful. Children in care are far more likely to be abused. The state even loses children regularly and sometimes never finds them again. I’m not saying it’s a good idea to have kids living with addicts, but judges should at least bear in mind the downside of the alternative.
Plus 1 Emily. In a lot of cases the state does more harm than good. The system is as broken as it ever has been. I have been told that a child in care can have a very uncertain future & we all know there is no love provided by the state.
Rubbish. Statistically a child is far more likely to end up homeless, a drug addict, a prostitute or commit suicide. Anyone have a definition of the “best interests of the child”.
John the statistics are definitely a measure of some of the situations these kids get into however I find when you speak to people that have been in care a more accurate assessment can be provided. I have never spoken to one yet with a positive story.
Mjhint I agree. I think the article is just bureaucrats propaganda to get more funding. The child “care” system is a money making racket. Statistically children are better off with their families. The “best interest of the child” is an Orwellian slogan with no meaning. Half of homeless people were in state care. Children in state “care” have been trafficked into prostitution. How these people can turn around and say they need more cash to steal more children is beyond me. http://m.independent.ie/irish-news/kids-in-hse-care-ended-up-working-in-brothels-26738941.html
Yes John and the massive % of former corporate care children who end up filling our jails.
Adolf Hitler’s “In the best interest of the child” is a favorite line perpetually quoted by today’s Social Workers the Child Protection Services and Family Court Judges:
It was originally a slogan designed by Hitler’s social engineers.
The Lebensborn program was a Nazi organization set up by SS leader Heinrich Himmler, which provided and ran orphanages and relocation programs for children.
After World War II, it was reported that Lebensborn was a breeding program.
The program promoted the growth of “superior” Aryan populations by providing excellent health care and by restricting access to the programme with medical selections that applied eugenic and “race” criteria. “In the best interest of the child, we are breeding superior Aryan children”
During the war, Lebensborn also processed the adoptions by German families of children from occupied northern and eastern Europe, mostly orphans.
The Lebensborn e. V. (‘eingetragener Verein, “registered association”) was founded on December 12, 1935, to promote the policies of Nazi eugenics.
The Lebensborn homes were also used to house very young Polish children (between two and six) kidnapped to be Germanized. While older children were sent to institutions specifically dedicated to Germanization, the younger ones would merely be observed for a time at the home before adoption.
Nicolas Stathopoulos Social service crimes researcher
SSEC Social Service Economic Crimes (research)
http://familyrights.us/news/archive/2009/oct/best_interest.html
It is also true that lots of children and young people who grow up in care do exceptionally well, thrive in their care placements, go to college or go on to whatever vocation they choose. In fact this is the case much more so in this country than in many other similar countries and it is the case for most children who grow up in care. Such children may be on long term care orders or in voluntary care so they will not feature on an average day in the Courts. Why is it that at least two of these stories are in fact pretty positive but all the images used seem negative and not at all empowering? If you are a young person who is in care or grew up in care these images reinforce a negative stereotype. I am not saying that State failures should not scrutinised, they should, but perhaps children and young people in care would also benefit from hearing and sharing positive and empowering messages about the experience of care. But then again I wouldn’t know what would benefit them, they will know best what might benefit them when they are asked.
Figures please
In England, if parents don’t clean up their act in a specified time they are placed for adoption. The number of “available” kids has increased massively due the scourge of drug abuse. Heart breaking stories. Little kids caught up in dysfunctional situations.
What’s the situation about adoption in Ireland ? And why are couples etc going abroad to adopt children ?
Vera, there is little to no domestic adoption. If children here are placed for adoption, they are generally adopted into the extended family. Inter country adoption, since Barry Andrews, changed the law, has also become incredibly difficult. Some (and I mean some) children should of course be placed for adoption. State care is really not the way for all children. We seem to work everything around the status quo via HSE. There are amazing foster families who do tremendous work and so many kiddies could benefit from adoption into these families. It’s not a black and white issue but until the “system” looks into more options this situation is never going to improve.
there is also the fact that you need to have a large sum of money available to you when you apply to adopt in this country, we looked into adoption a couple of years ago and were invited to a ‘ pre adoption meeting and workshop’ (a 1 day course ) one of the first things that was mentioned was that you would need to have at least 25-30k in your bank to cover,’ legal and incidental costs’ , this was (we were assured) to try and stop “corrupt officials in foreign countries using children to make money”. adoption used to be possible through several ‘agencies’ over seen by the state, (barnardoes for example) now it is all controlled by the irish adoption services, a branch of the hse , . furthermore, if you go ahead with the process and get to the stage where you have handed over quite a large sum of money to ‘cover costs’ and your proposed adoption ‘falls through’ there is no refund , you have to start all over again , with the applicable 25-30 k of course ! the irish system seems to place more emphasis on your wealth than your ability to give a child a decent loving home and a future , that goes for the fostering process too !
Thank you Jeanette . Most interesting. Not many people would have that amount up front to enable them to adopt . And really providing one parent was working…I see no. Problem . !!
The irony isn’t lost on me. When we adopted 3 and a half years ago we had to account for every penny we spent in Ethiopia. In total including flights and accommodation and living for a month we spent €4,000. And we were told if they weren’t happy our adoption would not be entered into the Irish register!!! Now the Irish adoption agency arc want €30k!!!!! Unbelievable. No one wants to buy a baby. And it should be 100% transparent. But I find it interesting that after spending so much time saying foreign govts are looking to exploit couples who want to adopt, our own govt sanction €30k “fees”.
For one thing, there are significant legal barriers. Part of the reason we had the children’s rights referendum in 2012 was to make it easier for vulnerable children to be adopted, as it was thought that the constitution wouldn’t allow for it apart from in the most extreme cases. The Baby Ann debacle a few years ago was a case in point.
A law was drafted that would allow foster carers to adopt where the child has been with them for 18 months and the birth parents haven’t cared properly for that child for 3 years (along with other safeguards). It also tries to make it harder for birth parents to withdraw consent for adoption orders when this would have a negative impact on the child. These changes would make it a little bit easier to make adoption a potential outcome for kids in the child protection system, the way it is in the UK.
Unfortunately the amendment we voted for in 2012 still isn’t in the consitution, because some of the hardcore No campaigners took a legal challenge that I believe is with the Supreme Court. So nothing has been done to implement this.
ah!!but vera, another little gem of wisdom from the h.s.e is that a least 1 (preferbly both) of the adoptive ‘parents’ has to be able to spend at least the first 12 -18 months with the child full time ! now how many jobs allow you to take this amount of time away from work? the whole adoption process ,since the introduction of the ‘ Hague convention’ some years back is geared to making money , the irish government and its agencies (h.s.e) saw this and decided to jump on the gravy train . if the real interests was what is best for the child, why would they put such restrictions in place that would de-barr around 75% + of the population ? according to them ,these ‘rules’ are in place to stop ‘underhand practices and corruption” so instead of paying a few grand to some dodgy local politico in some far off foreign place , you pay the whole whack to a dodgy government dept here , these ‘rules’ are there for one reason only , to make money ! there are only certain sectors of this country who could afford both the time away from work and the amount of money needed to be able to go ahead with an adoption ,everybody else just doesnt get a look in . you dont have to be foreign to be corrupt !
As a foster carer I totally agree with Fergal Landy.
6,500 children are in care .
Sad reflection on our failure as a society.
Catherine, 6,500 children in care may seem like a huge number but it is in fact .5% of children in this country! Ireland in comparison to many other countries have a very low number of children in care. Yes it’s sad that there are any children in care at all, but society cannot be blamed for every child in care! While the system is not perfect & is lacking in many areas, mainly due to funding & resources , there are also very successful stories regarding children in care!
I’ve noticed the majority of your comments on here on any article are extremely negative and Anti state….. Lighten up a little, the world is not out to get you
Putting a child in care is not all way the right thing to do . . If the care system looked out for the child the way there suppose to it would be fine but a lot of kids end up in worse situations after being in the care system . . . The care system was messed up 30 years ago and by the sounds of it nothing has changed which is sad really . . . You would think they would have learned something from there past mistakes . . .
Children are 7 times more likely to be abused in care compared to living in natural family – so corporate care is the last place a child should be put.
So really HSE social workers have failed these children by not being able to tune to them, understand them, etc.
More time needed for children to trust these strangers.Most are unable to “read” children and their body language, etc.
As a frequent reader of the journal and a teacher, I am shocked, that this received such little attention in comparison to some of the “less” important articles.
Children go through this yet we still have asylum seekers complaining that they’re “under siege” because they don’t like the tiles in their kitchen. We give into them too.
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