Problems in placing disturbed children

A High Court judge said yesterday he was still facing the same problems in placing disturbed children as he did five years ago.

Mr Justice Kelly made the remark when dealing with a 16-year-old disturbed boy, who has been held in a State detention centre for 10 months although he has no criminal convictions.

He was sent to Oberstown Boys' Centre last January in the absence of an appropriate place. All the professionals involved in the boy's case have recommended he be placed in Ballydowd Special Care Unit but it has refused to take him on the basis, the court heard yesterday, of an opinion expressed by Dr Charles Smith of the Central Mental Hospital.

The boy is in the care of the Midland Health Board which says it can offer him a place in a therapeutic unit from late November or early December.

However, child psychologists and others involved in assessing his needs say that he must be placed in a secure unit which can make available to him the therapy he needs.

A court-appointed guardian expressed concern yesterday that the Midland Health Board had not addressed the boy's real needs in that its only proposal was to place him in an open unit when all the professionals had stressed he needed a secure place.

The judge said this boy should be in Ballydowd but that unit was not under the control of the Midland Health Board. The deputy director of Oberstown had frequently stressed this was not a suitable place for the boy.

However, the alternative was the streets, he said. The boy effectively had no home supports and the only relative who appeared interested in him was an ageing and unwell grandmother.

Reluctantly, he made an order continuing his detention in Oberstown until early December.