The High Court granted the Health Service Executive’s application to end the secure detention of a 13-year-old boy after being told he was ready to move to a high support unit.
In a judgment delivered on 16 July 2009, Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan said the court had been told shortly after the hearing concluded, by an HSE social worker and the boy’s guardian ad litem, that his progress made him ready for the move. The court then acceded to the HSE application to terminate his detention. The judgment does not specify the date on which detention ended or give further details of the planned placement.
The judgment also addressed the court’s concerns about the duration and purpose of civil detention in secure care. It said that secure care should support a child’s stabilisation and gradual reintegration into the community, while allowing the child to benefit from care and relationships with staff. The judge noted concerns that children could be moved too quickly or between residences after beginning to form trusting relationships.
The court referred to the safeguards discussed by Mr Justice MacMenamin in *S.S. (a minor) v Health Service Executive* [2008] I.R. 594. The judgment said orders of this type should be short-term or interim, while recognising that exceptional cases might require longer care. It also noted that a predetermined period could be considered if an order included a review mechanism.
The judge said the HSE and guardian ad litem should consider early in future civil detention cases whether a determinate order may be appropriate and whether a child may fall within the exceptional category requiring longer-term care. Those observations were general guidance; the court’s operative decision in this case was to end the boy’s detention on the HSE’s application.