In-depth Analysis of the Roscommon Child Care Case Study Report

This report examines the Roscommon Child Care Case from 2009, focusing on the neglect, ill-treatment, and incest suffered by six children at the hands of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. The case highlights the failures of the Western Health Board and the Health Service Executive (HSE) in protecting the children over a 15-year period, from 1989 to 2004. The report details the parents' alcohol abuse, the lack of intervention by social services despite clear signs of abuse, and the eventual imprisonment of Mrs. A. It also discusses the positive outcome of the children being placed in foster homes and with relatives, and the lessons learned regarding child protection and the importance of timely intervention. The report references several academic sources to support its findings, and it emphasizes the long-term trauma inflicted on the children and the need for societal awareness and action in child abuse cases.

Roscommon Child Care
Case

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Roscommon Case with reference to the Roscommon Child Care Case 2009............................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
This report is about a Roscommon Child Care Case 2009 in which there was a matter discussed
about Mrs A, a mother of six children who was prisoned for seven years for her crime of
neglecting, ill treatment and incest on her children. In this case presiding Judge, Miriam
Reynolds, (Rest in Piece) said he children were abused by their parents and the society as well.
This case attracts whole public attention and the main organization which worked on it was
Health Service Executive (HSE). HSE was the who had work on it after children didn't get
justice from the former Western Health Board who was part of this case since 1996 but children
didn't get justice till 2004. This case study was published by Health Service Executives.
TASK 1
Roscommon Case with reference to the Roscommon Child Care Case 2009.
In the earlier times this was a common practice and one can understand this kind of
situation by this case study. Thought the financial condition was not so good of the family the
parents, Mr. A and Mrs. A continued to consume alcohol and they not just consumed alcohol but
also started taking pills which did not keep them in there senses.(O’Keeffe., 2018) There were
socially active groups for children welfare but none of them took serious steps or measurements
to help the children of that family. Having 6 children in the house the parents did not bother
about there future and instead chose to not just mentally assault them but physically too.
The family's income was not even sufficient for the children to live with a stomach full
but there was nothing that effected the parents. The data collected on the abuses on the children
started in 1989 and ended in 2004, which is 15 years for the children to get a normal life or the
health service committee to realise the condition of that family.(O'Reilly and Dolan., 2016) The
children were sexually assaulted for such a long duration of time and no strict measurements
were taken to protect them. And some interviewers also said that when WBH employees went
their home their kitchen was looking very dirty, lot of waste and rubbish everywhere in house.
They found ashes, drink cans on table and in bag as well. The description given by this two
matches description given by Social worker which had visited their house for the first time in
2000.
1

People should be considerate about the families and the social workers should take there
job more seriously because if they had taken serious measurements to protect the children safety
and not trust the parents of changing themselves for the children, then right now the children
would not be traumatised.(Burns and McGregor., 2019) After all the worst of situations they
have been through it would be so much difficult for them to trust anyone or be physically and
mentally fit.
Mr. A and Mrs. A also took money from the social workers who tried helping them but
instead they used it for getting more alcohol in there body.(Phelan and Davis., 2015) They had
no future plans for themselves or their own children. No one can feel or understand the pain the
children must be in because no one took care of them after the abuses they went through. They
helped each other and survived the difficulties of life at such a young age. 15 years is not a small
time and those children went through that pain without any support.
Social workers trusted the alcoholic parents but couldn't they see the situation of the poor little
children who were suffering so much with pain. If the situation had been taken seriously way in
advance then the children would not have been so much traumatised and would be leading a
better life by now. This is a case which is all about child protection. This case contains matter of
six children who were abused in their home by their parents and they were having all rights to
feel safe in their home but they didn't find any safety.(Rose.,2015) And the ill treatment, neglect
and emotional abuse by their parents make their life hell at that time. This case was highly
immense public attention. So this case Roscommon Child Care inquired officially by Health
Service Executive (HSE). HSE was firstly known as Western Health Board.
This case was not taken seriously over many years. And due to not taking this case seriously
children had to face harm and neglect for number of years. In this case a mother name Mrs A had
a serious drinking problem and after giving birth to her first child she used to drink and also she
used to give alcohol to her baby. Six children voices had not been heard over the years by and
any social service committee and it had been said by inquiry team. This case mainly discussed
the matter of child abuse in which whole society had not participated and that's why children had
to suffered a lot. Because this case had taken place from 1989 and ends in 2004 which means it
had taken 15 years in providing justice to those six children.
During period of 1989 to 1995, the family A was in touch with Western Health Board from
1989. During that time this family lived with grandmother who was having poor health and for
2

that reason home help service provided to her.(Musasa., 2018) A social service provider named
as Public Health Nursing Service was involved with this family form the of Mrs A first child. At
that time a caring neighbour called PHN expressing problem about parent's over alcohol
consumption and also for alcohol given to their child. After that what action had been taken was
not clear because this social work file was missing. Some more information was fined by inquiry
team like she had drunken eleven vodkas an evening before giving birth.(Austin and Holt., 2017)
She always treated her children like an animal. Some children had spoken about physical abuse
and some were sexually abused as well. Health Service Executive find that if a strict action was
taken earlier than those six children did not find so much pain in their precious childhood time.
In the study the thing which had been fined is that both the parent was heavily dependent on
alcohol and after some year one parent had medical dependence as well. In 2004 four of six
children were sent to child foster homes and two young sent to their relatives. And Mrs A was
prisoned for seven years by Rosamond Circuit Court following her crime of neglect, incest and
ill treatment on her children.(Buckley and Burns., 2015) This case creates an alertness in whole
society about child abuse and now all child care providers are now doing their work with full
commitment.(Grimes L., 2017) This case is lesson for all society.
Some negative and positive point of this case study:
Positive:
The positive thing about this whole case is that after a long period all children had got their home
as well as safety after past bad 15 years. Four of them got good foster homes and two of them
happily living with their relatives.(O’Mahony and et.al., 2016) The Judge of Roscommon Circuit
Court had prisoned Mrs A for seven years and that was the justice time for children.
Negative:
There are many negative or we can say bad thing happened in this case as children have lost their
whole childhood in pain because the social service committee didn't take this matter serious for
many years.(Kenny., 2016.) All those years was like a hell for those children because at their age
they should have enjoyed playing games with friends and in making their life better for future by
doing study at that time. And the most negative part was that their was no big support from
society to children. The Western Health Board was a part of case for among seven to eight years
but they didn't able to provide safety to those children. Instead of good intention of WBH they
3

face failure because parents had taken those help in wrong way by using the money provided to
them for their living they used it in purchasing of alcohol.
CONCLUSION
This report concludes that all six children were abused, neglected and physically harmed by their
parents until they were brought out of their home in 2003 and 2004. In this case there was no
proof found that either a parent understand the need of their children. Parents in this case was
addicted with alcohol and they waste all the money in alcohol. WHB given many opportunities
to this by providing them money to live also other facilities but after getting all these things
WBH thought that Mrs A will now understand her responsibilities but it doesn't happen. And at
last children got justice from court and they HSE had provided good foster homes and relatives
house for their future living and if this type of case come again or any case come related to child
abuse then their should be a strict action taken against it.
4

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Austin, J. and Holt, S., 2017. Responding to the support needs of front-line public health nurses
who work with vulnerable families and children: a qualitative study. Contemporary
nurse, 53(5), pp.524-535.
Buckley, H. and Burns, K., 2015. Child welfare and protection in Ireland: Déjà vu all over again.
In Social work in Ireland: Continuities and changes. Palgrave Macmillan.
Burns, K. and McGregor, C., 2019. Child Protection and Welfare Systems in Ireland:
Continuities and Discontinuities of the Present. In National Systems of Child Protection
(pp. 115-138). Springer, Cham.
Coveney, F.B., 2018. Does Ireland Measure Up?: Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and the
Application of Protection Rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child. The International Journal of Children's Rights, 26(4), pp.626-663.
Devaney, C. and McGregor, C., 2016. A review of Children First and Keeping Safe Training in
Ireland: Implications for the future. Child care in practice, 22(2), pp.166-182.
Grimes, L., 2017. Book Review: Fred Powell and Margaret Scanlon Dark Secrets of Childhood:
Media Power, Child Abuse and Public Scandal.
Kenny, A., 2016. Reporting in practice: a study on childcare practitioner's views towards the
introduction of mandatory reporting of children at risk (Doctoral dissertation).
Musasa, M., 2018. The effectiveness of children’s residential care-student views (Doctoral
dissertation).
O'Reilly, L. and Dolan, P., 2016. The voice of the child in social work assessments: Age-
appropriate communication with children. The British Journal of Social Work, 46(5),
pp.1191-1207.
O’Keeffe, T, 2018. Frontiers of the Archaeological Imagination: Rethinking Landscape and
Identity in Thirteenth-century Roscommon, Ireland: Landscape and history on the
medieval Irish frontier. The King’s Cantreds in the thirteenth century, by Thomas Finan,
5

Brepols (Environmental Histories of the North Atlantic World, EHNAW 1), 2016, xv+
215 p., 11 b/w ill., EUR 75.00, ISBN: 978-2-503-54292-8. Landscapes, 19(1). pp.66-79.
O’Mahony and et.al., 2016. Representation and participation in child care proceedings: what
about the voice of the parents?. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 38(3),
pp.302-322.
Phelan, A. and Davis, M., 2015. Lessons learned: Public health nurses practice in safeguarding
children in the republic of Ireland. Global pediatric health, 2, p.2333794X15574087.
Rose, L,2015. A Case Study of English Language Acquisition by Chechen Programme Refugees
in Roscommon,Ireland. Irish Journal of Academic Practice. 4(1). p.6.
6