Judge says it’s 'outrageous' 14-year-old in Tusla care is going from hotel to hotel

Gordon Deegan

A judge has stated that it is “outrageous” and “unbelievable” that a 14-year-old boy in TUSLA care is going from hotel placement to hotel placement and does not know where he will be staying tonight.

At the Family Law Court, Judge Adrian Harris said that he was “grappling with the question 'are we doing more harm than having this child in care rather than not in care?”.

The Judge said that the teenager “is being put up in different places every night, he doesn’t know where he is going and is covering half the country”.

Last month, TUSLA secured an emergency care order after the teen ‘destroyed' his home in a row sparked over his mother refusing to return his mobile phone to him.

Initially, the teenager was a social admission by TUSLA to a university hospital after the fuel protests prevented Gardai from transferring the boy to a hotel placement in Dublin.

The teenager’s court-appointed independent voice, the Guardian ad Litem (GAL) told the court that TUSLA is looking for an extension to the Interim Care Order, “and yet they can’t place the child in suitable placements, and that can’t be allowed to continue”.

He said: “It is scandalous, really, in my opinion.”

Judge Harris described the contents of the TUSLA social care worker’s report before the court as “very, very disappointing”.

The TUSLA social care worker said that the court in recent days has been accommodated at a location in Co Limerick and hotels in Dublin and Portlaoise.

He said that a Special Emergency Care arrangement has been approved for the boy but one has not yet been identified.

The social care worker said that the teenager had engaged in disruptive behaviour that resulted in placements in Co Limerick and Dublin being no longer available to him.

The Guardian ad Litem (GAL) said that a Special Emergency Care arrangement is a marginal improvement on the current situation, “where he doesn’t have to move from one end of the country to the other night after night".

Judge Harris said: “This child has been in care for a month, and you wonder as a judge, "Am I doing the right thing at all entrusting him into the care of the State entity that is supposed to be caring for children in such situations”.

Judge Harris said: “This child is going from one hotel to another hotel late at night, he doesn’t know where he is going. It is just unbelievable and outrageous stuff on the part of TUSLA, absolutely outrageous”.

Solicitor for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency (CFA), Kevin Sherry, admitted that the situation is clearly an untenable situation where the boy is being moved from hotel placement to hotel placement

Solicitor for the parents, Mary Cuffe, told the court that at a meeting with TUSLA on Wednesday, May 6th, the Tusla social care worker suggested to her clients that they take their son back.

Cuffe said: “You appreciate that is completely out of the question as on the last occasion he was there, he destroyed the house, which they haven’t been able to repair, as they don’t have the funds to do so.”

Cuffe said that the boy “has told my clients that the last two weeks have been the best two weeks of his life. He is going around from hotel to hotel, his phone has been returned to him and is being topped up".

She said, “There is no consequence for him for what has happened in their house. While they love their son very, very dearly and want him back, they can’t take him back until there is some work done (around his behaviour).”

She said that the teenager won't know until after 5pm where he is going, and that will be repeated tomorrow and the next day.

She said that any support is on hold until the boy secures more permanent accommodation.

Judge Harris said that he wanted to keep a tight rein on the case “because this can’t go on” and extended the Tusla Interim Care Orders to May 12th.