A newly-born baby boy effectively abandoned last month when his mother discharged herself from a regional maternity hospital is ’thriving’ in his foster placement, a court has heard.
The Co Clare baby is now around nine weeks old and after the mother discharged herself from the maternity unit last month, TUSLA the Child & Family Agency (CFA) moved in and secured an Interim Care Order (ICO) for the then four day old baby boy.
The appointed TUSLA social care worker in the case has told the Family Law Court in Ennis that the baby boy “is thriving and doing well” and now weighs 9 lbs and one ounce.
The baby boy is the couple’s fourth child to enter State care and the TUSLA worker told the court that the boy is now living with a sister in the same foster placement. The brother and sister’s two siblings live in another county.
When the case was before Judge Alec Gabbett earlier this month he commented: “The mother discharged herself from the maternity hospital and effectively abandoned the baby knowing exactly what was going to happen as it happened three times before.”
Now, in a review hearing before Judge Marie Keane, the TUSLA care worker told her that the father said that he couldn’t attend court or meet with her as he said that he was ‘up in a heap’.
The care worker told the court that the father told her that it “is not a good time for them (the parents), they have a lot going on, that mother has a lot going on and is not managing or coping very well at the moment and wouldn’t be in a position to care for the baby right now”.
The care worker stated that she spoke with the mother over the phone during the week “but the coverage was really poor and we weren’t able to continue the conversation”. Other attempts at getting in touch with the mother have been unsuccessful.
The care worker told the court “I am quite concerned that at this stage I really don’t think the parents are ever going to show up for any of the court dates”.
The care worker said that the father did wish to have an access visit with his baby boy and the care worker was able to send the father a photo of his baby and a supervised access visit is being arranged.
The care worker said that the father did give his consent for a six month extension to the ICO.
The worker stated: “I wasn’t able to have that conversation with the mother and her view would be different.”
The care worker stated that the mother doesn’t understand why her children are in care.
The care worker stated that a parental capacity assessment carried out in 2016 found that the mother’s capacity to parent is very poor and raised concerns over cognitive issues.
The social care worker stated that she had concerns over mother’s capacity to understand the process.
She said: “Mother won’t take any help that is offered to her.”
She added: “The parents have a long history of mother not engaging with services unfortunately.
Asked by Judge Keane would TUSLA care workers ‘door-step’ the parents at their home.
The care worker stated that she has doubts about the address where the couple say they are staying at as any registered letters sent out are coming back.
As part of her extension of the ICO to later next month, Judge Keane directed that the public health nurse for the area visit the parents at their home.
Judge Keane stated that it appears that the mother is overwhelmed by what is going on and appears to be unwell.
