AN “OUT of control” 15 year-old girl abandoned by her family who went missing from an open care unit several weeks ago has been found and placed in a secure facility for vulnerable children, the High Court heard yesterday.
Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan granted the Health Service Executive orders that she continue to be detained at Ballydowd Special Care Unit in west Co Dublin. The judge was told by Caroline Timmins, for the HSE, the girl was located last Tuesday after absconding from a non-secure residential care facility.
The HSE sought the detention order for the girl saying her behaviour raised “grave and serious concerns” for her health and welfare.
The HSE expressed concern the girl, after absconding from the open unit, had been taking drugs and alcohol and been sexually active with older men. She came to the attention of the Garda and had been detained over a number of criminal matters, the court heard.
Lawyers for the HSE said the location of the girl’s parents is unknown, and she had been “effectively abandoned”. The HSE said that while the girl had been in contact with its out-of-hours services, she had not “co-operated” well.
The girl is “unable to accept help”, would rather be on the street and does not understand the danger of her situation, it said, adding the girl needed to be in a secure unit for full assessment.
The girl was first remanded in custody on March 25th last on public order and assault charges, but received bail the next day after a judge ruled he did not have power to detain her on welfare grounds. She failed to show when the matter was next before the children’s court. That court heard from her solicitor she may have been kidnapped by her violent stepfather and taken to England.
The girl ended up in a police station in Manchester and in care of UK social services. She returned to Dublin and was placed in the open care unit from which she absconded.
The judge noted a “highly experienced” social worker had in a report stated the girl was “out of control, violent and very dangerous”. There was a large “gap” in terms of parental protection.