The Gazette 1973

Dr. Paul

McQuaid,

M.R.C.P.I., delivered a lecture

on Sunday afternoon, 5th November, on the subject

of "Reform in the Law relating to Children from an

outsider's point of view". He first quoted the United

Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child 1959

and then some of the objectives contained in Article

45 of the Constitution called "Directive Principles of

Social Principles", which in principle are not cogniz-

able by the Courts. On the principle that "The child-

is the father of man", it was stressed that the problems

surrounding childhood in each individual case will in-

evitably influence the child when growing up. The

lecturer than mentioned the grim

McClure

case, in

which a Catholic Director of Marks and Spencer and

his wife, had adopted three girls who were triplets

in January 1969. In August 1971, a letter from the

Eastern Health Board stated the mother wanted to see

them, and alleged that the parents (the mother mean-

while having married the putative father) were in a

sound financial position. The children were brought

to Dublin by the adoptive parents and the parents

brought them back to England by a trick. Here the

children were starved and neglected in a disgraceful

way to the extent that one of them died from ill-

treatment, within three weeks. The adoptive parents

asked, for the return of the children who were in a

pitiful condition, and they returned there on the 7th

October 1971, after many formalities had been com-

pleted. The character of the children had however

completely changed in the meantime, they were deeply

shocked, and required heavy sedation, but have

gradually made progress under the care of the lecturer

since then. The adoptive parents have been very calm

and steadfast throughout. The real parents, named

McClure, were tried at Winchester Crown Court in

January 1972 for persistent neglect and cruel ill-

treatment of the 3 children, and for manslaughter of

the child who died. The real father was eventually

jailed for 5 years, and the mother was placed on 3

years probation, provided that she submitted to 12

months treatment in a hospital.

Adoption orders:

As regards Adoption Orders by the Board, 1343

such orders were made in 1968, and, as there are 6

inspectors in the Republic, this gave them a load of

224 cases each. There are 24 not recognised homes in

Ireland which contain 700 children. There are 36

schools officially approved by the Minister for Educa-

tion where homeless children can be placed; 26 of

these are registered as "Industrial Schools" run by

religious orders.

The lecturer suggests the following reforms in the

Adoption Law :

(a) The period in which a mother can give legal

evidence of consent for adoption, should be reduced

from six months to three months,

(b) A procedure should be adopted by which the

Board can act if the mother cannot be found.

of legitimate but abandoned children.

(d) Provision should be made for properly equipped

and staffed Adoption centres.

(e) It should be mandatory to undertake a case

history and to provide requisite psychiatric facilities for

the unmarried mother before the placement of the

child.

(f) At present, the Adoption Board visits the child

in the care of prospective adoptive parents

after

placement. Provision should be made for a visit to the

prospective parents by a properly trained and erper-

ienced caseworker

before

placement.

(g) Legislation preventing the adoption of children

of mixed religions should be replaced.

The lecturer then referred to his work in Philadelphia

and mentioned that the Children's Aid Society of

Pennsylvania had published in 3 vols, a work en-

titled "A follow up of Adoption—Post Placement

Functioning of Adoptive Children". The lecturer also

mentioned Father Good's article on "Legal Adoption

in Ireland" which appeared in "Child Adoption". The

lecturer pointed out that, although great strides had

been made in health legislation, it was not possible

under the Mental Treatment Acts, to make provision

for compulsory treatment of those who are mentally

ill, unless the application is made by the child's

parent or guardian. Under various statutes, there is

no unitary age at which a child legally passes into the

status of adulthood; the ages of 14, 16 and 18 are

mentioned in different laws, this should be remedied.

About one-third of the population—900,000—are

children under 16 years of age, and it is not surprising

that many of these have emotional problems. Unfor-

tunately the Government works through a number of

departments which disorganizes the work. In 1970,

the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Children, dealt with 1923 cases, comprising 6684

children, of whom more than half were "neglect" cases.

Out of the 1343 cases adopted in 1968, only 40 were

non-Catholic, 118 were adopted by relatives, and 1055

through Local Adoption Centres. In 1968-69, 463

children of both sexes were placed in Industrial Schools

and a further 97 had been placed there by parents.

The lecturer then referred to his article on "problem

Children and their Families" in the Summer 1971

issue of "Studies", as well as the Reports of the Work-

ing Party on Drug Abuse of 1971, and the Report

of the Commission on Mental Illness of 1966.

Delinquency:

Any child who behaves anti-socially is potentially

delinquent, and particulars can be obtained from the

annual Garda Commissioner's Reports. It is essential

that children should be properly assessed before being

sent to an Industrial School. Following assessment,

suitable counselling guidance and educational replace-

ment can be arranged by a Child Psychiatric Team.

The special squad of police, ailed "Juvenile Liaison

Officers" perform valuable preventive social service, by

counselling in stress and crisis situation, but they would

require more training in modern methods of counsel-

ling. More Probation Officers are required, and for-

tunately this personnel is being increased.

There are big changes happening in society, such

as the entry into the Common Market, and the vast

economic and financial restructuring of the country.

But the only way social legislation can be changed is

by Dail enactment, and it is up to the members of

this Society to prepare the way by spelling out the

urgency of some of these social problems; this legisla-

tion should allow for radical alteration in our system

in matters affecting personality development and

mental health.