The District Court extended interim care orders for two children and granted an application under section 47 of the Child Care Act to allow urgent dental treatment to proceed without the consent of their mother or their uncle, their legal guardian. The children were in a relative foster placement.
The CFA representative applied to extend the ICO and sought directions regarding dental surgery. The court heard that the dental surgeon required the presence of a person with authority to consent. The foster carer is a relative of the children, but the placement would not meet approval criteria; the court was told that the foster carer was known to the Gardaí, though the detail of this was not before the court.
The CFA had sought information from the Gardaí to inform the safety plan for the children, but the Gardaí were said to have refused to provide that information. The issue was being escalated within the CFA. The CFA solicitor described the situation as unfortunate because it would have helped in assessing the safety of the placement.
The guardian ad litem (GAL) was legally represented and supported the need for urgent engagement with the Gardaí. The GAL’s solicitor said it might be necessary to ask the Gardaí to attend court to explain their position.
The mother was not present. Her solicitor told the court she had no current instructions but said that, when the application had been discussed previously, the mother had been “fully supportive” of the dental treatment. She said her client had clearly stated that anything clearly for the benefit of the children would be supported. She had tried to contact the mother but had been unable to reach her. She noted that a recent meeting between the mother and the CFA had taken place and that the mother had attended her daughter’s birthday. However, she described the mother’s engagement as “quite erratic”.
The children’s uncle, who was their legal guardian, was present in court and legally represented. He consented on a without-prejudice basis to the extension of the ICO.
The judge extended the ICO for approximately four months. He granted the section 47 application for dental treatment, dispensing with the consent of both the mother and the uncle so that the treatment could proceed.
Given the difficulties in obtaining information from the Gardaí, the CFA applied to lift the in camera rule to permit a letter to be sent to the Gardaí expressing the court’s concerns. The judge directed that brief wording be submitted and granted the application, allowing a letter to issue to the Garda authorities.