An extremely disturbed teenage girl who was sent to the Central Mental Hospital earlier this month because there was no appropriate place available for her has written to a High Court judge. She has told him she is not mad but just wants someone to care for her.
The teenager, aged 17, who has been in care for some years, told Mr Justice Kelly: "All I want is people who are really going to be there for me, no matter what."
On March 10th, Mr Justice Kelly made an unprecedented order directing that the teenager be detained in the Central Mental Hospital (CMH).
He said he was compelled to make the order "with reluctance and a heavy heart" because the hospital was not an appropriate place for her. However, he had no other option because of the State's failure to provide appropriate facilities or a legislative framework to deal with such cases.
The judge had been told the teenager was extremely disturbed and had assaulted staff at a residential unit. This had led to her being moved to the acute psychiatric wing of a general hospital which, a consultant psychiatrist said, was a totally inappropriate, and a possibly illegal, placement.
His order directing that the teenager be detained at the CMH is being appealed to the Supreme Court.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Kelly raised the case again with Ms Mary Ellen Ring, for the teenager, and informed counsel he had received a letter from the girl. In the letter, she said she was "doing okay" and that things "have settled down a bit".
She wrote: "You probably think I've gone mad but I have not." She said things had become very upsetting for her after her father died a few months ago and she did not know how to handle them. She had taken all her anger and pain out on others. "It was like I had given up on life and there was no one in life I could cling to." People around her whom she looked to were caught up with their own problems and worries.
She said she was now terrified to make positive attachments "in case I will be let down again".
Mr Justice Kelly said the letter was well written and lucid. The teenager appeared to be quite stable, with some insight into the problems she had been creating.
He said he would relist the case for Friday. He had no desire for her to remain at the CMH "one second longer than necessary". He would make a copy of the letter available to the consultant psychiatrist dealing with the teenager and hoped to hear from that doctor on Friday.
He added that he was aware the teenager had over the years shown great advances and then experienced terrible setbacks. In a few months, she would no longer by a child and the court or health board would have no jurisdiction over her.
