How Could You? Hall of Shame-Ireland-Residential Centers and Foster Care Updated

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Ireland,”Sexual and physical abuse of children, staff turning a blind eye to drug use and an incident that left one youth hospitalised for days are just some of the shocking allegations made against foster homes and residential care centres

Harrowing documents reveal that healthcare watchdog HIQA has received a complaint about children’s residential care homes EVERY WEEK since 2012.

Between 2012 and 2014, the Authority received 159 complaints about the State-run residential centres and foster care homes housing Ireland’s most vulnerable young people.

Letters

HIQA staff exchanged at least 78 letters and emails during the same period with the HSE and TUSLA, the agency set up in January 2014 to take over responsibility for child and family services.

The shocking dossiers detail scores of disturbing complaints received by the watchdog, which currently doesn’t have statutory authority to investigate allegations of poor standards.

Details of the correspondence – released under the Freedom of Information Act – reveal that HIQA raised concerns about how the HSE and TUSLA were dealing with serious complaints including:

• A litany of claims in relation to one children’s residential centre where managers allegedly told staff to ‘turn a blind eye’, as a youth smoked weed ’24-7’, because reporting the incident could result in a loss of income if Gardai moved the child elsewhere. A worried whistleblower claimed that managers changed weekly reports by staff and court reports for fear that they would lead to removal of children from the centre. It was also alleged that staff allowed three young residents to sleep all day and stay up all night, while the children complained of being “depressed and suicidal”. The concerned member of staff also accused the employers of hiring unqualified carers and refusing to pay tax, PRSI, national insurance, overtime, bank holiday pay or maternity benefits to staff.

 

 

• Allegations of bullying and sexual abuse at a children’s residential centre in Waterford, where it emerged that staff had no way of contacting a manager outside of office hours in the event of a crisis.
• Allegations of physical and sexual abuse of two children in foster care in Wexford and abuse of one child in a North Dublin residential centre.

 

 

 

• Concerns about an incident in a residential centre that left a young person hospitalised for days.

 

 

 

• Concerns about a minor who was returned to a foster home despite having been removed to a place of safety by Gardai after making allegations against the carers.
• Complaints about three teenagers in a residential centre who were terrorising elderly locals with their behaviour went ignored. A complainant appealed to the HSE, accusing the teens of driving cars up and down the centre, setting off the fire alarm, cutting the electric fence and setting fire to bales. The HSE told the complainant to call the centre manager, who failed to return their calls.

• Worries for the welfare of 73 children in Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary who did not have an allocated social worker.

While the majority of complaints were resolved, the correspondence shows that on several occasions, HIQA was unhappy with the responses it got from TUSLA or the HSE and had to contact the bodies several times before it was satisfied that queries were being properly handled.

The documents also reveal that in some cases, significant delays elapsed between HSE officials receiving letters from HIQA and responding to the authority’s concerns.

Delays

In one case, the Executive took 80 DAYS to respond to a number of letters from the authority asking how it was dealing with the case of a worried grandfather who claimed a social worker was limiting visitation time with his two grandchildren in foster care because he had complained about the standard of their work.

The HSE eventually confirmed that it had allocated a new social worker to the case.

In another case, almost a month passed before a social worker in the Laois/Offaly area responded to an email from HIQA asking what action it had taken on claims that a link worker was failing to deal with concerns raised about a child’s safety during family visits in a foster care home – even after the Gardai became involved.

The social worker responded that, “contact meetings would no longer take place in the venue until any potential risks were clarified with the Gardai”.

 

Fianna Fail’s spokesman for children Robert Troy told the Irish Mirror that any failure by TUSLA to address HIQA’s concerns about children’s homes is “a dereliction of duty”.

 

Deputy Troy said: “If a complaint about a facility is received, HIQA has the power to carry out an unannounced inspection, at any time of the day or night in order to monitor compliance with regulations and standards, or in cases where incidents affecting the safety or well-being of children are reported. If these reports are not being thoroughly investigated, we have a serious problem.”

A spokeswoman for TUSLA said the agency: “Takes complaints from every source very seriously.”

She told the Irish Mirror: “All complaints are looked into within 30 working days. In the event that it takes longer, TUSLA keeps the complainant updated on a regular basis. Children in care have access to information on their rights and various avenues for making complaints. They are facilitated in making any complaints in a way that suits their needs and the circumstances.”

The spokeswoman added: “All TUSLA staff are subject to rigorous pre-employment checks, including full Garda vetting. Any member of staff who has a concern can report it in accordance with TUSLA’s protected disclosure policy per Section 103 of the Health Act, 2007.”

Complaints

Exclusive analysis reveals that one-in-four children’s residential centres was the subject of a HIQA complaint between 2012 and 2014.

The health watchdog has received 42 complaints about the country’s 171 children’s residential centres in the past two years

 

There are currently around 6,470 children in care across Ireland – 93% or 6,006 of whom are in foster homes.

HIQA received 108 complaints about foster care – around one complaint per 50 homes.

There were five complaints relating to the country’s four special care units in Ballydowd Dublin, Coovagh House, Limerick and Gleann Alainn, Co Cork.

HIQA also got four complaints about the three children’s detention schools located in Trinity House, Oberstown Boys School and Oberstown Girls School in Lusk, North County Dublin.

The watchdog confirmed to the Irish Mirror that complaints about children’s residential centres and foster homes came from a range of sources including parents, foster carers, relatives, members of the public, staff, advocates and children themselves.

 

Just 29% of the children’s residential centres around the country are subject to independent inspection by HIQA.

The watchdog inspects the country’s 49 statutory children’s residential centers, while TUSLA carries out its own inspections of the remaining 90 private and 32 voluntary run centres.

In 2012, just 24% of the 33 state run centres inspected by HIQA met its standard on safeguarding child protection and keeping young people safe.

 

 

A TUSLA spokeswoman told the Irish Mirror that the agency: “Conducts inspections and monitoring visits of private and voluntary centres 2-3 times per year”, but inspection results are currently not available.

She said: “Until recently, the inspections were carried out by the local area offices and the records were kept locally.

“As a result, we do not have national data on inspections. However, as the inspectorate is now nationalised we plan to collect this data in the future”.

 

Children in care: We reveal horrifying allegations about foster homes and residential centres housing Ireland’s most vulnerable youngsters[Irish Mirror 2/14/15 by Ailbhe Jordan]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update:”There have been cross-party calls for an investigation into the HSE’s handling of claims that up to 40 intellectually disabled children were sexually abused by a foster care family over two decades.

Members of the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee who are familiar with the case made the call during a tense meeting with senior HSE managers yesterday.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil TDs John Deasy and John McGuinness said a “commission of investigation” must be set up into the claims as it has been alleged a “clique of HSE managers” covered up the abuse.

While the HSE has rejected the allegation, saying it has conducted its own investigation and is helping gardaí with their inquiries, the TDs said the 2012 HSE report has yet to be published and was conducted by former HSE managers without any tendering process.

They maintain that an independent investigation is required.

The case alleges that up to 40 children and young adults with intellectual disabilities, including a number who were “mute”, were abused at a Waterford foster home for two decades.

When health service officials were first made aware of the allegations — which include repeated rapes and claims that children and teens were made to live in cubby holes beneath the stairs and “out-houses” — in 1992, vulnerable children had already been placed with the family for a decade.

In 1995, officials were ordered by senior social workers to stop placing anyone else with the family and to find alternatives for anyone still living with them while the issues were examined. However, despite this request, one woman who Mr McGuinness said had “suffered the most serious abuse” and is now living with multiple internal injuries, was left with the family for 13 years.

The family at the centre of the case included a male and female couple and a younger relative, all of whom are alleged to have taken part in the abuse. The woman is the only one still alive.

While the then South Eastern Health Board believed they were the only institution placing children with them, the family were also taking placements from the Brothers of Charity and “independently” of any organisation.

Mr Deasy said the allegations are the worst he has heard “in 16 years as a public representative” and involve “rape” and “the alleged sexual abuse of mentally disabled children”.

Claiming “a clique in the HSE swept all this under the carpet” and a “cover-up”, he said some managers have since been “promoted” to other roles in the HSE and Tusla.

Mr McGuinness said it is not appropriate for ex-HSE managers to conduct inquiries, regardless of their qualifications or integrity.

HSE director general Tony O’Brien and national director of social care Pat Healy said that when the latest whistleblower claims were made in 2009, they immediately set up an investigation.

This report was finished in 2012 but gardaí have asked for it not to be published until the State’s own inquiries conclude, and strongly defended their investigators’ independence.

Gardaí in Waterford are understood to feel the HSE has provided significant information, but that the nature of the alleged victims’ conditions means it has been difficult to prosecute.”

HSE ‘clique’ accused of covering up foster care sex abuse[Irish Examiner 4/24/15 by Fiachra Ó Cionnaith]