Dr. Alva O'Dalaigh:

The age-disputed minors in particular are in a sort of no-man’s land where they do not have a guardian to sign for them, so they cannot sign up to school. Schools cannot accept them because there is no parent to sign for them. In some cases, they cannot access the medical care they need. We had a patient who is 16 years old and CAMHS was unable to see him. He was unwell psychiatrically. He had been seeing psychology, who felt it was beyond their scope of practice and he definitely needed to be seen by a psychiatrist. However, CAMHS would not see him because, in the first instance, they asked why he did not have a parent to sign the form. I told them he is an age-disputed minor and does not have a parent. I sent the documentation from Tusla which explained that he was ineligible under the Child Care Act. They then said they cannot see him and he has to be seen by the adult services. The adult services were not very happy about that but, ultimately, we had to email the Ombudsman and eventually the adult services saw him. They saw him once but he did not go to the second appointment because he is chaotic, a teenager and also unwell. They discharged him saying basically that if he requires further review, he should be referred to age-appropriate services. Essentially, he is in this no-man’s land where nobody is really happy to see him because of being in this funny place. If the age-disputed minors are not placed with families, at least there should be some sort of guardian who can sign for them to allow them to access the services that they need – educational and health.