Neglect, abuse and mental illness among parents are among the most common reasons for children coming before the child care courts, a project established last year to examine and report on childcare proceedings has found.
The first interim report of the Child Care Law Reporting Project found that child neglect accounted for over a fifth of 333 cases, involving 573 children, which came before the courts between December 2012 and July 2013.
The second most common reason for an order being sought before the courts (17.7 per cent of cases) was on ‘multiple’ grounds, which might include neglect, abuse, domestic violence, alcohol and/or drug abuse and mental illness.
Abuse, which could include sexual, physical or emotional abuse, was the main grounds for the application in almost 13.2 per cent of cases.
Parents with a mental illness or intellectual disability was the main reason for a court order being sought in 12 per cent of cases while drug abuse by parents was cited in more than one in 10 cases.
The report found that a “totally disproportionate” number of African children came before the courts: children of African origin were 20 times more likely than Irish children to be subject of child care proceedings.
Source: Pamela Duncan, Irish Times, 06/11/13
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