Madam, – The Irish Foster Care Association and the Irish Association of Young People in Care would like to express their concern regarding the “report” released over the past couple days into the death of a young person in the care of the HSE. This “report” has raised many issues for children in care, their families and their foster families.
While acknowledging that there were failures in the care received by this young person, it must be pointed out that by publishing this “report”, Alan Shatter has seriously breached young people’s rights to privacy and confidentiality while in the care of the HSE, all in the name of accountability. All political parties should be working in the best interest of the child (our next generation) and not in best interest of politics.
The “report” leaked is actually a case review of a child and her family’s life which has no place in the public arena. Young people in the care system are very conscious that all details of their life in care is recorded and find it difficult to open up to social workers and others with responsibility for their care; how much more difficult will it be now for those children and young people to feel confident that their personal records will be kept secure.
The unauthorised leaking of this case review must not be allowed happen again.
It is, of course, an absolute necessity to investigate the death of any child/young person in care, to learn from mistakes and to ensure they are not repeated in future. But how these reports are published needs to be reviewed.
We welcome HIQA’s guidance regarding the reporting of serious incidents and child deaths, but it must be borne in mind that family members, birth and foster families, are entitled to a period for grieving and that timescales for reporting must reflect this.
The media must also take responsibility for how they report these cases; young people deserve privacy following a death, as do the families they leave behind. The young person referred to in this case review has two young children. Is it fair for them to see their mother’s picture on the front page of the newspaper and see her life story sensationalised in bold print? – Yours, etc,