A judge in a rural court granted an application by the Child and Family Agency (CFA) for extensions of interim care orders for ten children of the same family. The parents were dissatisfied with a parental capacity assessment report and all the parties agreed that it could be set aside and a new assessment commenced.
There had been allegations of abuse made and the children had been interviewed by specialist Gardaí. The judge stressed the importance that the notes of these interviews be provided to the two guardians ad litem to assist with recommendations. Case management meetings had taken place between all the practitioners involved and this had assisted in the oversight and progress of this complex case. The judge granted the extension of the interim care orders for all the children for two months.
The CFA lawyer told the judge that this was an application for an extension of interim care orders for ten children from the one family. The mother and father were both present in court and each was represented by a barrister. There were two guardians ad litem for the children and each guardian (GAL) was represented by a solicitor.
The CFA lawyer informed the court that much out-of-court background work had been carried out by the legal teams through case management since the previous court date. Allegations of abuse had been made and a parental capacity assessment had been conducted. The parents were very dissatisfied with the parental capacity assessment. The parents made a Section 47 application to court to have the parental capacity assessment report set aside and a new one carried out. Each parent’s barrister informed the judge that there was consent by all the parties that the parental capacity assessment report could be set aside. In the circumstances, the judge struck out the Section 47 application made by the parents.
The CFA lawyer explained that a trauma-informed assessment would now be carried out by a consultant psychologist. The terms of reference had been set up and an application for the lifting of the in-camera rule was made and granted, with directions about certain redactions to be made to the previous assessment report. Due to the complexity of the case and the number of children involved, this would be a huge undertaking. A case management meeting for the legal professionals involved was organised to take place on a date a month later.
The allocated social worker told the judge that the threshold for the extension of the interim care orders was met for all the children. She confirmed that applications for full care orders under Section 18 of the Child Care Act had been filed for all the children. The social worker informed the court of the very sad death in an accident during the previous week of one of the immediate family members of one of the foster carers. Consequently, the children had been cared for during the previous week by the sister of the foster carer. The children were very saddened by this recent death as they had been very close to the deceased.
The social worker advised that the local hospital was in the process of carrying out health assessments on the children. The children’s parents were due to undergo genetic tests at the hospital. The mother’s barrister asked that her condolences be extended to the foster carers on their sad bereavement. The father’s barrister said that access between two of the children and the parents was going better now that it was taking place on a Friday. The children were sometimes dysregulated after access and it was good that it was not affecting a school day.
The first GAL’s lawyer echoed his condolences. He stated that there was a significant number of welfare issues that needed to be dealt with. One child had an assessment in occupational therapy and the recommendations from the imminent report should assist his school. An urgent meeting should take place as soon as the recommendations were available to put steps in place to assist the child. The assessment of the child for autism spectrum disorder was ongoing.
An assessment of needs was being progressed for a younger child. The preschool child had recently had grommets inserted. He was still waking up shaking at night and having toileting accidents. The youngest child was due to start at preschool soon. The GAL’s lawyer said he was supporting the application for an extension to the interim care orders. He added that the case management meetings for this case were working well as it was a very complex case.
The lawyer for the second GAL told the judge that there had been very little positive progress made regarding the furnishing to the GAL of the notes from the interviews held between the children and the specialist Garda interviewers. He stressed that it was important that the CFA worked hard towards obtaining these notes as his client needed them in order to make recommendations. He said his client was satisfied with the progress on the children’s medical appointments.
The judge confirmed that a lot of work had been done on this case since the previous month. Having one allocated social worker who acted as the central point of contact, while very onerous for the social worker, was working well. The judge added her condolences to the foster family. She echoed the GAL’s view that the provision, without further delay, of the Garda specialist interview notes was important. She was satisfied that there had been consent in agreeing that a new parental capacity assessment was to be done.
The judge granted the extension of the interim care orders. She noted that the parents had consented to the interim orders being made for longer than 29 days. The interim care orders were extended to a date two months later when the full care order hearings would take place.