Website to expose operation of State child care orders

A website highlighting for the first time the reasons why children are taken into State care by the HSE was launched today.

The reporting scheme aims to shed light on a process which has been operated in secret on foot of the 1991 Child Care Act and is so secretive that many legal and health professionals, including judges, do not know the details of cases.

The website, childlawproject.ie, aims to amend the in-camera ruling by allowing the reporting of proceedings while withholding the names of those children involved.

The scheme is designed to allow controlled reporting of child care cases to foster greater uniformity across the State in the imposition of the law while protecting the children who are at the centre of the process.

Director of the Child Care Law Reporting project, Dr Carol Coulter, believes the operation of the website will shed light on the secretive State care system, and also help to expose some of the worst cases of child neglect.

“Some of the neglect of children is quite shocking,” she told RTÉ this morning. “Three very small children were found completely alone in a flat with no heating, no lighting, no food,” she said. “They were found by a guard and brought into emergency care. This is the common or garden work of the services concerned.

“I do think we need to know what goes on in order to have a proper debate about how to protect children and how to ensure that their welfare is provided for."