A MOTHER based in Britain sparked an investigation into an Irish foster family who abused a child with intellectual disabilities for 20 years.
The revelation comes as the two reports investigating the abuse have been published this week by the Ireland's Health Service Executive.
The woman at the centre of the previously unpublished reports has been called 'Grace' by the Irish media.
Born in 1978 with microcephaly to a single mother, Grace was moved from different foster homes in the former South Eastern Health Board region.
At the time, foster carers were paid by the health service to look after people.
The foster family Grace was placed with in 1989 aged 11 also looked after other children with disabilities, mostly for short breaks and holidays for respite care to not extend past a number of weeks.
However, Grace remained with the family for 20 years until 2009.
At the age of 17 in 1995, Grace began attending a day service where they noted she started demonstrating 'stress' through her behaviours, including removing her clothes during a home visit by health workers, during her time at the day centre and on the transport bus to and from the centre.
Day centre staff also noticed a series of bruises on Grace's body during toileting and bathing, notably on her hips and elbows.
However the Devine Report also stated that there was no evidence of the bruising ever being investigated other than being informally mentioned to the foster parents who said they couldn't account for the bruising.
In March 1996, a mother of another child based in Britain alleged that while her child had lived in Ireland and was placed on respite with Grace's foster family, she had been molested.
The allegation was made through a letter from the mother forwarded through the British social services, and subsequently the Health Service met to discuss Grace's removal from the home.
But some months later after a case conference on the matter it was decided that there was no evidence to suggest that anything of the nature of the allegations happened to Grace and she remained with the family.
Over the course of the next 13 years, numerous attempts were made to remove Grace from the foster family into residential care all of which were blocked by the foster family.
During 2007 and 2008, Grace's mother was contacted where she lived in London and she gave her consent for her daughter to be moved into a residential placement although disagreements between staff delayed this move for over a year.
During this time Grace presented at the day care centre with bruising on her thighs and breasts.
Staff at the centre took Grace to a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit, and notified gardaí, however they later decided to return her to the foster family.
Eventually in July 2009, Grace was finally removed from the foster family and moved into residential care.
At the end of the report, the enquiry team found that no-one did anything about the concerns from the day services, nor were there any clear records of key decisions taken at meetings about the young woman’s care being followed up.
New staff were not told about the situation, and no-one looked into the reasons why she was not moved to a residential placement many years earlier.
Besides Grace's case, another report in 2015, the Resilience Report found that there were a number of other cases to look at from others who alleged abuse while staying with the foster family.
One person had one short placement with the foster family in the 1980s and alleged that they had been locked in a cupboard in the foster home.
Another person had three respite placements for a week each in the 1990s and reported abuse at the time.
Following the publication of the reports, the Taoiseach and the HSE have apologised for the 'significant failings' in Grace's case.
Addressing the publication of the reports in the Dáil during Leaders' Questions, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said: "The very least this House can do is apologise to Grace and her family.
“Her treatment was a disgrace to us as a country.
“The Government is committed to the establishment of the Commission of Investigation – Minister (Finan) McGrath will bring those terms of reference to Cabinet next Tuesday.”
Dr Cathal Morgan, Head of Operations, HSE Disability Services said: “The HSE wishes again to offer an unreserved and heartfelt apology to all those who experienced serious failings in the care provided and for the significant failures of the former South Eastern Health Board and the HSE to make the care situation safe.
"You will see from the Devine report that it wasn’t possible to clearly establish why certain decisions were taken and actions not taken.
"We welcome the establishment of the Commission of Investigation that will have greater powers of compellability in order to answer these questions.
"Substantial progress has been made to improve the quality of social care services provided to people with disabilities and to ensure that vulnerable adults are safeguarded.
"To further strengthen this, the HSE would welcome that safeguarding be placed on a statutory basis."
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