One of the most problematic childcare and abuse cases of the last decade highlights the continuing inadequacies of the Irish system, writes Liam Reid
For two Dublin parents of a troubled 17-year-old, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea has come to represent the last hope for their son. The island is Gotland, and located on it is a residential centre for troubled youngsters that is substantially different from such centres in Ireland.
At Hassela Gotland, the 60 or so young people, with various drug and social problems, live in three communities on the island, along with the staff of the centre. The staff includes carpenters, mechanics and other trades and professions, along with professional childcare and healthcare workers.
The Dublin couple's son, John, is one of the most problematic childcare cases to come into the Irish system in the last decade. His is a case which highlights the serious problem Ireland has in dealing adequately with the protection of children against child abuse and the care of troubled children.
Privately, health professionals say that a lot of money has been spent on John, and that everything possible has been done for him. However, his parents maintain that the care he has received in the Irish system has merely exacerbated his behaviour.
"We're convinced what happened him in care did more damage than good," says his mother.
Despite having been in numerous children's homes over the last decade, John is still displaying serious behavioural problems, including drug abuse, mugging, and violence towards his family. His parents say he has never received adequate psychotherapy to deal with his underlying problem, sexual abuse, and they believe that Hassela Gotland is one of the only places where their son can get the help he needs.
John's behavioural problems stem from sexual abuse he is alleged to have suffered at the hands of an uncle when he was a small boy in the early 1990s. At the time his parents were living in England, and would frequently send their son and his younger sister to stay in Dublin with relatives.
"When they came back from a visit, I saw them doing things to each other, things you wouldn't expect," his mother said. Alarmed, she returned home to Ireland in late 1993 and contacted the authorities. John and his sister were sent to Crumlin Children's Hospital, which confirmed the abuse in March 1995.
By this stage, John's behaviour was deteriorating, and he started setting fire to things, according to his mother.
"We had no place to stay when we came back, so we were put in a hostel in town," she says. "That's when I first realised \ had a problem. He set fire to the playroom, and he wasn't even eight years old."
In 1995 the Garda also began a sex abuse investigation, but in 1997 John's parents were told that the DPP had decided not to prosecute. John's behaviour continued to deteriorate, as he began to steal and play truant from school. He was now 10 years old.
In late 1997 he was placed in residential care for assessment, in Finglas Children's Centre, and spent nearly a year there.
John's parents became aware at this time that a small child was staying in the same house as the uncle suspected of the abuse, and contacted the social services and gardaí. Again it was confirmed that the child had been abused.
After Finglas Children's Centre, at the end of 1998, John was placed in Newtown House in Co Wicklow under a High Court order on the recommendation of childcare experts. Newtown House had been established by the then Eastern Health Board two years previously as the first secure high-support unit for seriously troubled children in the country.
Policies at Newtown House included physical restraint and placing children in a "time out" room, where they were locked in for varying amounts of time following disruptive behaviour. It was also common for children to be locked in their own rooms.
Concerned at these methods, which they were convinced were only adding to their son's problems, John's parents instigated a judicial review in the High Court in late 1999. While their son was released into their care before the case was completed, the judge found against the parents.
His parents continued their campaign against Newtown House, however, making a complaint to the then children's minister, Mary Hanafin, who in August 2000 asked the newly formed Irish Social Services Inspectorate to inspect the facility. Less than two weeks after she ordered the inspection, Kim O'Donovan, a 15-year-old resident of the centre, was found dead in a Dublin bed-and-breakfast from a drugs overdose.
The inspection report, when it was published, was highly critical of how Newtown House operated, and recommended its closure as a children's centre unless there was a complete overhaul. It was closed.
Meanwhile, John was sent back to Finglas Children's Centre, but kept absconding. In late 2000 he was placed in Trinity House, a secure centre for young offenders, where he remained for 12 months.
Since Christmas 2001, John has been living at home. His attempts to hold down a job have proved unsuccessful, while gardaí have been called to the house because of his violent outbursts.
His parents claim that contact with the local East Coast Area Health Board (ECAHB) has been minimal, despite a commitment from senior staff in late 2001, who told them that they had learned a great deal from John's case.
Concerned that there will be no duty of care on the part of the State when John turns 18 next May, his parents again made contact with Mary Hanafin, whom they met in 2000. Having researched care facilities for their son, they told the TD of their wish to send him to Sweden, and of his willingness to go.
She passed on the matter to Brian Lenihan, her successor as junior minister, who in turn has been in touch with the ECAHB. A decision on sending the teenager to Sweden is due over the coming days.
Mary Hanafin also raised concerns about the criminal aspect of the abuse claims against the uncle with the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell. Despite allegations regarding three children, no prosecution had taken place. Last month, McDowell sought a report from the Garda on the case, which has now been reopened.
"We were told that the authorities learned an awful lot from our son's case, and they said that it helped them with other cases," his mother says. "But where's the help for now? He's at home, and nothing has really been done for him since he left Trinity House. He deserves a real chance and we think Sweden could be it. There's nothing left to try here."