Reports into the deaths of two teenagers who died while in State care point to major failures by the Health Service Executive's social services, writes CARL O'BRIENChief Reporter
TRACEY FAY, who was placed in care at the age of 14, was found dead from a drugs overdose in 2002 aged 19. Social services had been alerted to concerns over her welfare five times between the ages of one and seven years.
In one case, for example, her front teeth were knocked out when her mother gave her a smack in the face.
By the time she was admitted to care on a voluntary basis, social workers say she was profoundly damaged. Over the next three years, she received little or no structure or support in her life at a time when she needed it most.
She was put up in at least 30 different BBs; various hospital beds; the AE bench of the Mater hospital; two emergency accommodation settings and mother-and-baby homes.
The unstructured nature of the support left Tracey wandering the streets and, at least on one occasion, sleeping rough.
These details are contained in her case review, which was obtained by The Irish Times last year and also published by Fine Gael’s Alan Shatter last month.
Yesterday’s HSE report into her case – where she is referred to as “young person B” – is highly edited and contains few of these details. It does, however, acknowledge that social services were “fragmented and disjointed” and that there were successive missed opportunities to intervene properly in her life.
In her early years, it says, concerns for her welfare should have been properly considered and acted upon. However, there was no documentation to show this occurred. These concerns, it says, were raised by a public health nurse and, later, by hospital staff, teachers and family members.
After a period of time living in Britain, she returned to Ireland permanently at the age of 14. At this stage she was placed in care.
However, the accommodation provided to her was “so unplanned as to appear chaotic” and in another instance was “unprofessional and unacceptable”. Other forms of accommodation were opportunistic and lacked any structured care plan.
Furthermore, independent living accommodation provided to her towards the end of her life was of a very poor standard, with frozen pipes, blocked toilets and a collapsed ceiling.
More than 40 social workers were involved to a greater or lesser degree in her care; while the work and commitment of many should be commended, it says responses to her needs were ad-hoc rather than long-term and structured.
In addition, a delay of two years in obtaining a psychological assessment “undoubtedly” led to delays in ensuring her needs were properly addressed
Under the Child Care Act, there is a duty imposed on the HSE to take a child into care for their welfare or protection. However, the report says the HSE “failed to adequately address the care, protection and accommodation needs” that she had.