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	Country Is in Denial on Child Protection, Claims Ombudsman By Patricia McDonagh Irish Independent March 18, 2009 http://www.independent.ie/national-news/country-is-in-denial-on-child-protection-claims-ombudsman-1676060.html THE Children's Ombudsman has warned that the country is still in a "level of denial" when it comes to protecting children at risk. Emily Logan says there is no legal obligation on people working with children to protect their best interests. And there is no system to automatically investigate the circumstances which lead to the deaths of any child -- even those at risk or in care. The comments come in the wake of a series of child protection scandals. In January, a Roscommon mother was sentenced to seven years in jail for 10 counts of incest, sexual abuse and neglect of her children. Just before that, the country was shocked after a report found the Diocese of Cloyne had put children at risk of harm through an "inability" to respond appropriately to abuse allegations. The Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, later withdrew from the running of the diocese in the wake of the controversy. "I think we have a very positive attitude to children and young people," Ms Logan told the Irish Independent. "I think where we are still experiencing some level of denial is (with) children who are vulnerable and children who are at risk. "At the moment there is no obligation on people (and organisations) to do the best they can. There is no legislative obligation, no policy obligation," she added. An all-party committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children is looking at the possibility of a referendum on child protection. But Ms Logan insists this must be a broad referendum that also looks at children's rights. Private "For a long time in Ireland there has been the idea that what happens in the family is private," she said. "That is right, it is private, but when that private environment becomes a dominion of abuse it is not okay for any of us to say it's a private matter and leave it alone." Ms Logan is also calling on the Government to bring in a child death review group to look into the circumstances surrounding all child deaths in the State. Similar arrangements are in place in other jurisdictions, including Britain, the US, Australia and Canada. In an options paper presented to government, she outlines how such a review could provide vital information to policy makers and the authorities to prevent further deaths in the future. And crucially she recommends that it would allow for in-depth investigations into selected deaths -- particularly of those at risk or in care. Over the past six years 20 children have died in state care, nine of whom died from "medical issues". And no details of the circumstances leading up to the deaths have been provided. "There has to be some kind of critical instant review where a child is known to the State or is at risk to make sure we look carefully at the systems and the structures in place," she said. The Department of Health and Children said: "The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is participating in an initiative undertaken by the Office of the Ombudsman for Children regarding the possible establishment in this country of a child death review mechanism."
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