Emergency care order is granted in court after baby injured

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AN Emergency Care Order was granted for a baby after the baby’s mother “smelling of alcohol and slurring her words” presented the baby at a hospital with head injuries and underweight.

A County Louth court heard the Child & Family Agency, Tusla, believe there is an immediate and serious risk to the child after the mother gave hospital staff “conflicting” accounts as to how the baby received its injuries.

A Social Worker said she believes the baby came to harm because the mother “is misusing alcohol.”

The court heard the mother told a triad nurse the baby fell from a couch. However, she then told a paediatrician the baby fell three foot from a chair onto a carpeted floor.

A paediatrician gave evidence a CT scan of the baby’s head showed signs of haematoma, a collection of blood under the skin, caused by trauma.

The baby had swelling to the right side of its forehead and a two centimetre bruise below its eye, the paediatrician said.

He said the baby did not lose consciousness and didn’t vomit but was kept in hospital for 24 hours for observation.

‘ The history and injuries are not consistent with the mother’s story,’ the doctor said.

While he said he didn’t find any other injuries on the baby, he was concerned with how the mother presented herself, smelling of alcohol and her speech was slurred.

‘It may have been an accidental injury but the history is inconsistent. It could be accidental or could be a non accidental injury,’ the doctor said.

The court heard the baby was noted as being underweight in the clinical notes and the child was presented dirty and unhygienic.

A social worker told the court it is her opinion they cannot determine what happened to the baby due to the mother’s conflicting account she gave the hospital staff. She said the baby’s father is not able to meet with the baby’s mother but he consents to the emergency care order.

‘I believe the baby came to harm because the mother is misusing alcohol - whether it was an accidental fall or something more sinister,’ the social worker said.

The CFA said they have reason to believe there is an “immediate and serious risk to the baby,” and an Emergency Care Order is in the best interest of the baby.

Judge John Coughlan, having heard all the evidence, was satisfied there was an immediate and serious risk to the baby were she to be returned home. He granted an emergency care for under Section 13 (7) of the Childcare Act for a period not exceeding eight days.