Tragic care teen ‘needed her sibling’

SOCIAL workers may have underestimated the psychological impact that being separated from her sibling had on a teenage girl in care who later took her own life, according to an official review of the tragic case.

The 15-year-old girl, named only as Clare in the report by National Review Panel (NRP) – which investigates deaths of children in care – took her own life days after she decided to remain with a carer instead of moving into residential care.

Since the age of two, Clare had either been cared for by relatives or by foster parents. Described in the report as ‘warm, attractive and outgoing’, Clare was also ‘emotionally fragile’ and had been left distraught by the deaths of her mother and a relative who had later cared for her.

But she valued the relationship that she had with a younger sibling, who lived with other carers, even though they could fall out from time to time.

In the report, details of which were published on RTÉ’s website last night, NRP investigators asked whether the social services in charge of her appreciated fully the significance that Clare placed on being separated from her younger sibling when they were both very young.

The report also highlighted failures to allocate a social worker to the older child, in one instance for two years.

Citing research that highlighted the importance of contact between siblings in care, the report recommended that if siblings cannot be placed together then care professionals should do their best to make sure the children in care receive enough contact with family members.