Ms Martina Kelly:

I am Martina from Sligo. We are a family of four. My husband is Liam. We have two sons, aged 21 and 17. We adopted our second son 14 years ago when he was three, from Belarus. Adopting was a very difficult path that took five long years of assessments and social workers. We loved him from day one and have always done our best for him. When our son started national school, aged five, his teachers noticed that he had difficulties. He was hyperactive and could not sit still. He was overboisterous and exceptionally noisy. He constantly spoke out of turn and was very disruptive. Playing in the school yard became a big problem and in the classroom he made teaching and learning very difficult for everyone.

Our school referred us to the HSE and through the school's help and persistence we finally got an appointment for our son to see a child psychologist. Over a period of two years she assessed him and eventually reported that he had severe ADHD. The psychologist then referred him to CAMHS. We were told that once we started attending psychiatry we could no longer avail of psychology. We would like our son to have availed of both services as we feel he has both psychiatric and psychological problems.

Over the following seven years our son was seen once every six months by a different psychiatrist at each visit so we could not build up a relationship with any psychiatrist. At every appointment, none of the psychiatrists talked to our son. They checked his height, weight and blood pressure and we were always asked if we wanted to increase his medication. Every time I tried to discuss his problems I was told it was behaviour. They offered no advice and no help. Finally, in the past two years we have built up a relationship with a part-time temporary psychiatrist who has stayed and will stay until a full-time permanent psychiatrist is, hopefully, found. This part-time psychiatrist talks to our son and does not worry about his height or his weight.

ADHD has created enormous difficulties in our family, our home, our community. Our son never thinks of consequences. He does not comprehend dangers and he enjoys dangerous behaviour. He is a risk-taker who craves excitement and his mind is constantly on overdrive, racing off in very unexpected directions. He is very intelligent and sporty but he cannot stick with anything. He was a great Irish dancer who won many trophies and medals and various feiseanna over several years. He was a great rugby and soccer player and he enjoyed horse riding and surfing. Sadly, he has abandoned all these activities. He gets bored and frustrated very easily. This leads quickly to agitation and anger, and sometimes violence. He does not like his life being so chaotic. He attends all his appointments, takes his daily medication and engages in every help offered to him. In June 2016 he did a very good junior certificate. Unfortunately, he refused to go back to school in September. In autumn 2016, we tried to get him into various courses but he could not stick with any of them.

He was restless and rudderless, with no school structure or routine. He started staying away from home for two or three nights, with no contact with us. He would not reply to texts or answer calls. He started drinking alcohol and experimenting with drugs. He became friends with men and women in their 20s who were all eight to ten years older than him. We did not know these adults. We did not know where they lived. It was very worrying and frightening for us.

Our son's life started to spiral out of control from November 2016 to May 2017. During this period, he was found unconscious on town streets overdosed on either alcohol or drugs. He did not care if he lived or died. He was hospitalised on several occasions. During this period, we were in constant contact with CAMHS and Tusla begging for help. In spring 2017, Tusla held a multidisciplinary meeting for all parties to get involved in an in-depth discussion about our son's problems and how best to help him and us. A week later, we were asked to meet our son's social worker and the senior social worker. After a lengthy discussion, we were told their big solution was for us to go home and to try not to fight. We left that meeting feeling deflated, disappointed, disgusted. After this meeting, things got worse for all of us.

During the first week of May 2017, our son tried to take his own life on several occasions. On the bank holiday Sunday, he took a drug overdose. He was rushed to hospital. On the Tuesday night, he went into respiratory failure. He was rushed to hospital. On the Saturday night, he jumped in front of a car. He was taken to hospital. On the next Sunday, he took an overdose of non-prescribed household medicines. We took him to hospital. All this happened within seven days. All these traumatic situations occurred at weekends or night times when we could not contact CAMHS or Tusla. The emergency department did not know what to do with our son. On some of these occasions, he was kept under 24-hour watch because he was a danger to himself and others. On one of these occasions, he was left sitting in the emergency department for 13 hours without any help. On another occasion, we were told we would have to wait at least 12 hours before he could be seen by a doctor so I brought him home and sat watching him for 24 hours. During this crisis week, I rang CAMHS and Tusla crying for help. I asked for him to be admitted to a secure mental institution or strict high-dependency residential care for his own safety. I was told by CAMHS and Tusla that they had nothing to offer us. We were told there are very few beds for teenagers with mental health problems. We were told that even if they found him a bed there was no guarantee he would stay as they could not force him to stay. He would be free to walk out any time he wanted. This was the worst week of our lives after six horrendous months of living through a nightmare and no one could help us.

Five weeks ago, he started a Youthreach programme. He plans to do the leaving certificate applied through Youthreach over the coming two years. He has stopped taking drugs. He is trying to cut back on alcohol. He attends a drug and alcohol addiction counsellor weekly. He is making every effort to take control of his life but we fear for his future.

As in our case, most incidents occur in the evenings, at night time or at weekends when Tusla or CAMHS cannot be contacted. Several times in the past six months we have had to call in the Garda at night time when we should have been calling a social worker. Gardaí are not trained social workers, psychologists or psychiatrists but they are expected to be all three when a crisis occurs at night or on weekends. In our experience, we have found most gardaí to be excellent mediators and very helpful and understanding, especially our local gardaí who know us and our history.

After many years of asking for our son to have a psychological assessment, we finally got the assessment done in June 2016 while our son was also doing his junior certificate. In autumn 2016, the psychologist told us she had completed the assessment and she would forward the results. To date, after waiting 12 months, CAMHS, Tusla or ourselves have never received any assessment report. In the nine years we have been attending CAMHS, our son has never had a psychiatric assessment. We, his parents, believe our son has psychiatric and psychological problems along with severe ADHD. Due to a lack of both funding and staffing, we find it very difficult to get answers. Our son is crying out for help so I ask the committee, "Who do we turn to for help, especially at night and on weekends?" I have just one last thing to say. Yesterday, we attended a multidisciplinary meeting in Sligo. Every organisation and service was represented, except CAMHS. CAMHS had no one to send to our meeting.

I thank the committee for inviting me to speak and for listening to me.