A 13-year-old girl, who has been in the care of the North Eastern Health Board since she was a baby, was brought to hospital last weekend after consuming four ecstasy tablets and drinking a litre of Bacardi, the High Court was told yesterday. The girl may also have suffered a miscarriage and is said to have a serious problem sniffing nail varnish.
The court was told the girl was free to roam the streets and sometimes stayed on a boat with other homeless persons. One of the people with whom she was associating and using drink and drugs was her father, her grandmother said. The girl had also said she had slept with two older men whom her grandmother believes are drug-users, one of whom is supplying the child with drugs.
Rather than living the life of a 13-year-old child, the girl was now regularly taking drink and using drugs, her grandmother said in an affidavit.
The girl was placed in care when aged about eight months but in December last contacted her grandmother and informed her she was her granddaughter. The girl had told her grandmother her place with her foster family had broken down when her foster mother began abusing alcohol and taking the child out on the streets to drink. She had then come to the attention of social workers and was placed with another foster family, but that placement broke down. After that she was placed in a hostel facility.
The girl's grandmother yesterday secured leave from Mr Justice McKechnie to seek orders directing the NEHB and the State to provide appropriate secure accommodation and care for the child. He returned the matter to Friday next.
The case of the girl's older sister, who has experienced problems similar to this child and was also a victim of sexual abuse, was before the courts on several occasions before she turned 18 last year. That girl is now living in England with her boyfriend.
Mr Mark de Blacam SC, with Mr Conor Dignam, for the child, said her parents were separated. Her father had cared for her for a while but she was then placed in the care of the NEHB. She had been placed with a foster family, but that broke down in circumstances where the mother was abusing alcohol and taking the girl drinking with her.
Mr Dignam said the girl had not been at school for several months. Her grandmother, concerned at the situation, had contacted a solicitor, who wrote about the matter to the NEHB.
Last Saturday the situation deteriorated further when the girl was admitted to hospital. Earlier she had taken four ecstasy tablets and a litre of Bacardi. She had also told her grandmother she had slept with two older men, aged 19 and 22.
She had discharged herself from hospital on Sunday and said she would resume drinking.
Mr de Blacam said the girl sometimes stayed at a NEHB hostel but also on occasion on a boat on a river which was frequented by homeless persons.
There had been no contact between the girl and her mother, who lived in England, for some time. Her grandmother believed the mother's husband was unaware of the child's existence.