Baby Maria needs urgent brain scan

Judge grants care order for newborn found on roadway in rain

THE baby found abandoned on a country road needs an urgent brain scan and a neurological examination, a court heard.

Doctors had to go to a judge to get permission to treat the newborn, who was found last Friday in Co. Dublin just 24 to 36 hours after birth.

A family court heard the baby, who is now called Maria, had suffered adverse effects by being left out in the open and needed care and attention.

DOCTORS have gone to court so they can give emergency treatment to a newborn girl found abandoned last week.

The infant – called Maria by the nursing staff who are caring for her – was discovered in a plastic bag in torrential rain just off the N7 in Co. Dublin last Friday.

As her mother has not come forward, her State carers have had to seek a care order from a judge for a brain scan and for other medical treatment.

It comes as a leading children’s medical expert told the Irish Daily Mail of fears the child may be having seizures or have problems such as fluid on the brain.

Judge Brendan Toale told the district court that the child’s health and welfare had been neglected and avoidably impaired, it has been reported.

The district court dealing with family matters in Dublin was told late on Monday that Maria needed emergency medical treatment at the city’s Coombe Hospital and at Our Lady’s Hospital, Crumlin. She required a brain scan and a neuro-

Requires care and attention

logical examination, according to a report from a consultant neonatologist from the Coombe.

The court heard how the newborn had suffered some adverse effects by being left in the open and that she required care and attention.

RTÉ Radio reported that Judge Toale said the child’s health and welfare had been neglected and avoidably impaired.

Patrick McClean, solicitor for Tusla, told the court that the DNA test would assist in establishing parentage and gardaí could compare this with the database to ensure the mother is the biological parent if and when she comes forward.

Mr McClean said Tusla will continue trying to find the mother and they had carried out checks with other hospitals.

A social worker from Tusla gave detailed evidence of how baby Maria was found and the efforts that have been made to locate the parent

Judge Toale questioned her about those efforts and asked if she were in constant contact with gardaí in case the parents came forward. She said she had been in touch with officers just half an hour before the case came to court but there was no update.

The social worker said that if Maria’s parents came forward they would be given access to their child after social workers had carried out an assessment. The j udge said another hearing to extend the care order will follow. He said if the parents become known in the meantime they are to be notified of the order and they are entitled to apply for an order to vary that.

Judge Toale granted a 28- day order. If the parents do not come forward in that time, the case will come back before the court.

Afterwards a children’s medical expert, who wished not to be named, told the Mail: ‘In general, a brain scan on a baby is only done if the child wasn’t behaving normally, if it was having seizures or if they were worried there was some congenital problem like hydrocephalus. Or something you couldn’t see from the outside very clearly.’

But the expert said a brain scan would not need to be done if the child had been left in the cold for a period of time.

He said: ‘If we get a baby who is having seizures in the newborn period, we would do ultrasound scans and we would often do an MRI. An MRI is very good at determining the structure of the brain.’

A spokesman for Tusla yesterday said the baby would be fostered after leaving the hospital if parents failed to come forward.

In a statement, the agency said: ‘While Tusla does not comment on individual cases, in the current situation the Child and Family Agency would urge the baby’s mum to come forward so that she can receive the help she needs and so that she can be consulted on her baby’s future.

‘In all cases regarding babies who are found the first priority is the medical wellbeing of the child. When the baby is ready to leave hospital appropriate care is arranged for the child.

‘Decisions regarding the baby’s future, in the absence of parental

Parents would be given access

contact, are overseen by the courts.’

Baby Maria was found abandoned in Rathcoole, southwest Co. Dublin. She was wrapped in a light-brown Primark fleece blanket and a blue cloth.

The baby was then wrapped in a black bin liner and put in a Marks & Spencer paper bag. She was found by a couple driving by the country road who pulled into the gateway and heard the child whimpering.

The infant, who had been born 24 to 36 hours previously, was taken to Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, and then to the Coombe Hospital.

On Monday, Tusla and gardaí made an urgent appeal for the child’s mother to come forward, saying she had nothing to fear.

Rita Byrne, principal social worker, said: ‘We can look at supports we can offer the mother into the future but at the moment we are desperately anxious that she make contact as soon as possible.’

Gardaí at Clondalkin have appealed for anyone with information to ring 01 666 7600 or the Garda confidential line on 1800 666 111.