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MJ is a fictional character with true stories to tell. In camera ruling prohibits the publishing of the true identities of participants.
MJ is giving me a serious headache this week. The amount of paperwork sitting in front of me is mind boggling. He has scored a bulls eye against the Emergency Intervention Service, their staff and The Health Service Executive-North East region and Louth Community Services. I wish I could publish the report in its entirety but the lack of time and space is a hindrance. I hope I can do justice to the cause. Anything I ever state has no personal issues but the dilemmas faced by fathers on a daily basis. Hopefully I can justify my said statement. It’s a bit tedious but please bear with me and pretend to be on jury duty.
MJ and his wife have been through the mill. They had already suffered the loss of their son in a traffic accident, when their daughter was born. The Public Health Nurse referred her to the early Intervention Service because of a query regarding developmental delay. From the onset MJ was excluded from the proceedings. After assessment by the members of the EIS, it was concluded that the baby could benefit from the services provided by the EIS. MJ was still not notified. It should be duly noted that Mr and Mrs. MJ always had the knowledge of each others places of abode. Its only at a court hearing that MJ came to know of the treatment her baby daughter was receiving, without his consent or knowledge. In direct contradiction of the law of the land and the rights afforded to him as a legal guardian. Hence began a long drawn out battle with the authorities which resulted in the setting up of an investigation team whose findings I shall refer to as we go along. Please be patient because these complaints, lack of competence of the professionals and their practices, lack of procedure and the bias against a father are issues I am quite familiar with. For once MJ is being left out and the issues on hand will be discussed and the findings of the said report.
Early Intervention Team failed in their duty to involve MJ in his daughter’s treatment from the onset. The members of the service knew about the separation before MJ contacted them. The referral form contains space for both the mother and father’s signatures, yet they failed to ensure that MJ’s signature was sought. Then the EIT and their managers failed to deal with the original complaint of MJ being excluded from the treatment plans for his daughter. It appears that the issue of including fathers was not considered an option and there was staff working away with no knowledge of the rights of the non custodial parent. The HSE North-East, at a corporate level, should have had a set of policies in place to manage such issues. Their own solicitor seemed surprised and concerned that the questions of Guardianship and Custody having come up again.
Again, The team coordinator and The Nurse on the team made home visits to Mrs. MJ without the prior knowledge of MJ, despite having been agreed at The Family Partnership meeting that both parents would be included in all communications in future. The investigators state that this visit should not have taken place. MJ had offered at the initial Family Partnership meeting , medical notes which he had collected but the offer was turned down. It was later found that there is a referral procedure to request such medical notes. Eventually the EIT accepted the medical notes, which were placed in the central file. The investigators chastised the EIT for being insensitive and unresponsive towards MJ.
As MJ pursued the matter, more shortcomings came to light. The Health Board (HSE North East) had no policy in relation to Guardianship. MJ brought this issue to their attention in October 2003. Its in the month of June 2004 that a legal opinion was sought. Since MJ took up the cause new policies have been introduced and hopefully such occurrences will disappear. There is still no formal position, definitive line or sets of policies or procedures in relation to Guardianship and consent to treatment within the HSE North east.
In general there are an increasing number of men, separated and divorced, who continue to face such obstacles and resistance from various government departments and health related bodies. Especially taking into account the reluctance by the mother of informing the father of the welfare of their child is complicating matters further. Then the lies being told by the mother made life even more difficult. As I stated earlier the lack of space and time will restrict me from going into detail. The end product from the investigating team was confirmation of the lack of sympathy towards the father, abuse of their rights, persona vilification, intentional or otherwise, lack of procedure and an overall lack of competence at the best of times with the following of whatever procedure that existed.
Its frightening to think, with the amount of resources allocated, such anomalies in practice still exist. I hope and wish MJ is allowed to get on with his life which includes his darling daughter as an integral part of his everyday life and the said departments help make his life bearable rather than complicating matters even further thus imparting more pain onto an already extremely painful existence. Sadly such similar instances happen quite frequently in all related services and if one could even vaguely understand the after effects of such situations, there would be an improvement in the attitude and practice of such professionals.
In the meantime, I wish MJ the best of luck and happy endings.