Mother seeks `secure place' for disturbed son

An out-of-control teenage boy, who suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder, is living rough in a Dublin park and urgently needs a secure therapeutic place, the High Court was told yesterday.

The boy's mother said she had sought help for the 13-year-old from the Northern Area Health Board but had received no offers of an appropriate or any place.

He was living rough in a park over recent months and only occasionally returned home.

The mother said she had her son assessed at four years old. He was found to have a high IQ but had Attention Deficit Disorder, which was undiagnosed for a time. He had experienced problems at primary and secondary school and had attended an adolescent unit where his days were unstructured. He got into bad company.

She had hoped the board would find a place for him as she and her husband could not help him alone and needed help. But, she believed, the board had "a total lack of compassion" towards her and her son.

Ms Carmel Stewart, for the NAHB, said the staff dealing with the case were elsewhere on similarly urgent matters. She asked for a brief adjournment to allow her clients to respond to the situation.

Mr Justice Kelly said he had huge sympathy for two responsible parents who seemed to have been "fobbed off" by letters from the board. He said he would deal with the matter today when he would require evidence from the board about its proposals for the boy.