‘Please help my Angel’

THE father of a disabled student has claimed that the HSE failed to meet its obligations to provide his daughter with the resources she needs to maintain her health and education.

James McDonagh (34), who comes from a Traveller background, is the father of 13-year-old Angel, who is not currently receiving a full-time education after she was expelled from a special needs school on the Southside.

The father and daughter live with James’s mother in Blackrock. The 13-year-old girl suffers from closed spina bifida, autism, global developmental disorder and attention deficit disorder.

Speaking to this newspaper last week, Mr McDonagh explained that Angel was expelled from the school in January of this year after her behaviour, which has been exacerbated by her complex and debilitating range of disabilities, had become increasingly difficult.

He claimed that before she left the school, care staff there carried out an assessment of his daughter’s needs and found that the HSE had an obligation to take Angel into their care.

He maintained that the report also recommended that the HSE provide Angel with continuous assessments of her educational and health needs. He said his daughter’s ability to return to full-time education was dependent on the HSE meeting its obligations in this regard.

“The recommendations are that Angel will have to be taken into a specialised unit run by the HSE in order to get a proper overall assessment and then she might be able to go back to school,

? he said.

“Her needs got increasingly difficult. The school wrote to the HSE for help but it didn’t materialise. The HSE told me over the phone that it was not their problem. They haven’t responded to me.

?

Mr McDonagh said cutbacks imposed on the school by the Department of Education over the last number of years had also meant that staff there found it increasingly difficult to cater for Angel’s complex needs and were forced to expel her as a result.

He has lodged an appeal to the Department of Education regarding what he believes is his daughter’s right to receive a full-time education. He said the appeal is scheduled for hearing on May 22.

The disabled child is currently not receiving a full-time education and her father fears that her manifold physical and intellectual conditions will deteriorate significantly if she does not receive the special attention she requires.

“I want Angel’s needs recognised and respected but I want the HSE to take responsibility and give her the best treatment in terms of education. I also want them to ensure that her health needs are met.

“The psychiatrists have recognised that Angel needs ongoing assessment,

? he added.

“The second thing is that she has constantly been kept indoors because of her behaviour and her overall needs.

“She is not interacting with other kids. She is not getting speech therapy or physiotherapy or occupational therapy, which she needs.

?

Cllr Hugh Lewis (PBP) has called on the HSE, the Department of Education and the school in question to work together to find a solution to Angel’s predicament.

“Intellectual or physical disabilities shouldn’t be an impediment to a child’s education,

? he said.

“This case is systematic of cutbacks across the board. Extra resources need to be put in place to ensure that vulnerable children receive a proper education.

?

A spokesperson at the Department of Education said it believed that the school Angel attended had sufficient support within its overall allocation to enable it to provide for the teaching and care support requirements of all of the children enrolled.

The spokesperson confirmed that the department received an application from Mr McDonagh recently in respect of the decision of the school to

“permanently exclude

? his daughter.

The HSE and the school in question both said they could not comment on individual cases.