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	A primary school has called garda&iacute; on a number of occasions to help contain an &quot;out of control&quot; 11-year-old girl.</p>
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	At a district court sitting of the Family Law Court, a solicitor for the Child and Family Agency (CFA) said the child has threatened to have classmates shot and killed by others.</p>
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	A senior social worker with the CFA said the girl&#39;s behaviour has deteriorated in the last six months and on two occasions the girl&#39;s school was unable to manage her and called garda&iacute;.</p>
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	The social worker said on a more recent occasion, the school contacted garda&iacute; after an outburst at school by the child &quot;where the girl was completely out of control&quot;.</p>
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	The social worker said the girl has assaulted and threatened classmates and assaulted her mother and a sister in the presence of the school principal. She added there was a &quot;very volatile atmosphere&quot;.</p>
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	&quot;It is very significant that a school like the one in this case are relying on garda assistance to deal with the behaviour,&quot; she added.</p>
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	The social worker said that earlier this year, the girl took an overdose of her mother&#39;s prescription drugs and was rushed to hospital by ambulance. An assessment carried out on the girl found there was no intention to self-harm in the episode.</p>
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	The girl had another outburst at the hospital resulting in the hospital calling on the assistance of a security guard.</p>
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	The solicitor for the CFA told the court: &quot;Parents of other sick children were going to take their children out of the hospital because of the trouble the girl was causing.&quot;</p>
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	The social worker said the girl had two huge outbursts at school last autumn &quot;when both myself and garda&iacute; were asked to attend. She was beyond the control of her parents and no adult around her was able to manage her at that time&quot;.</p>
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	The social worker said that the girl &quot;is completely out of control&quot;.</p>
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	The CFA was seeking to put the child into care on an interim basis.</p>
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	Both the child&#39;s mother and father, who is the girl&#39;s primary carer, opposed the application with the father stating that he was agreeable to respite care Monday to Friday only and would look after his daughter at weekends.</p>
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	A solicitor for the mother said there has been no further episode of note at the school over the past two months.</p>
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	However, after hearing evidence from the senior social worker, mother and father, the judge in the case placed the girl into care for the next 29 days.</p>
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	After hearing the judge&#39;s ruling, the girl&#39;s distressed mother left the court in tears.</p>
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	The solicitor for the CFA told the father while he was in the witness box: &quot;This is not a punishment of you or your wife. The sole purpose of this is to safeguard your child from now and into the future.&quot;</p>
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	The social worker said: &quot;Her behaviour tells me that she is crying out for help.</p>
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	&quot;The girl&#39;s behavioural issues are so concerning that, down the line, I just see a very bleak future for the girl unless we do something very different and very intensive,&quot; she added.</p>
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	&quot;I am aware that the girl is a much loved child but that her parents&#39; and family situation is very difficult and stressful. I would have great admiration for efforts the father has made over the years and while her mother loves her children she doesn&#39;t have the capacity to meet the girl&#39;s needs at this time.&quot;</p>
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	In his ruling, the judge described the father as &quot;an unsung hero&quot; in bringing up the girl by himself for the last number of years.</p>
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	(Published by the Irish Independent on the 24th May 2016)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/garda-called-to-school-as-girl-11-threatened-to-have-classmates-shot-34741053.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/garda-called-to-school-as-girl-11-threatened-to-have-classmates-shot-34741053.html</a></p>
