<p>
	A school principal became emotional describing two severely neglected young sisters &mdash; one of whom had so much head lice that it looked as if her whole head was moving.</p>
<p>
	The district court granted full care orders for both girls until they were 18. The case is among 26 reported on the website of the Child Care Law Reporting Project, published today.</p>
<p>
	The principal said one of the girls had hundreds of head lice moving down her neck where she had an inch-long scab, and bites on her back.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;It looked like her whole head was moving. I could see spider-like creatures moving; I could see hundreds of them moving down her neck,&rdquo; she told the court.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;She was very aware that she was not the way she should be, she was very embarrassed. I tried to reassure her.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	The principal said the sister&rsquo;s head lice were not as bad and that the older girl tended to look after her. Both were socially isolated.</p>
<p>
	The mother, who had left the country and could not be contacted, did not attend the hearing. The father, who had only heard that his children were in care two weeks before the hearing, consented to the full care order and did not attend.</p>
<p>
	A medical addiction specialist from a methadone clinic said the mother&rsquo;s substance abuse problem had never gone away and had become progressively more unstable before she left the country.</p>
<p>
	In another case, an emergency care order was granted for a teenager who went to a Garda station by herself to complain about her mother.</p>
<p>
	However, the girl was sent away by the garda&iacute; and told to come back with an adult.</p>
<p>
	On hearing that the garda&iacute; had sent the girl away, the judge told the Child and Family Agency to write to them pointing out the difficulty they had put her in.</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/girl-had-so-much-lice-it-looked-as-if-head-was-moving-305207.html">http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/girl-had-so-much-lice-it-looked-as-if-head-was-moving-305207.html</a></p>
