Inspectors Urged To Close Child Centre

Inspectors investigating the running of a residential child care centre in
Co Wicklow, from which a 15-year-old girl absconded and died of a heroin
overdose, were urged three months ago to shut the unit, it has emerged.

The plea came from the parents of a Dublin child who spent several months
in Newtown House, formerly Trudder House, between 1998 and 1999 and who had
befriended Kim O'Donovan. Kim was missing from the home for nearly a month
before she was found dead last August in a Dublin B & B. She died of a
drugs overdose.

The parents, who do not wish their names to be published, were interviewed
for up to five hours by the Social Services Inspectorate during its
investigations into the running of the home. They have confirmed they urged
the inspectorate, during the interview three months ago, to shut Newtown House.

However, as reported in The Irish Times on Friday, the home has since been
closed by the East Coast Area Health Board while its role is being
reviewed. No troubled children have been cared for at Newtown House since
December.

The East Coast Area Health Board said Newtown was no longer required for
troubled children as a new 24-bed unit had opened at Ballydowd in Co
Dublin. However, a spokesman said the role of the home was being reviewed.
The inspectorate's report into the running of Newtown House was due to be
published on Friday, but a spokeswoman confirmed yesterday it would be delayed.

The family interviewed in the course of the investigations had sought an
inquiry into the running of Newtown House long before Kim death. They wrote
to the then Minister of State for children, Mr Frank Fahey, in August 1999
seeking an investigation and also asked his successor, Ms Mary Hanafin, to
order an investigation. She acceded to their request just days before Kim
was found dead.

The family had also voiced their concerns in the High Court about the
running of the centre. They had been advised their son, a victim of sexual
abuse, would receive appropriate treatment at the unit but they believed
this was not happening.

They had also been led to believe that it was a secure unit, but at one
stage their son absconded from Newtown House and was missing for some time.

A second inquiry will begin in the High Court next month.