The Irish Times has revealed new information about the number of children and young adults that died while in the care of the Health Services Executive (HSE) between January 2000 and April 2010, which is now estimated at 199. The 199 figure includes both children in State care or known to social services providers.
Some 109 children died of unnatural causes, which included suicide, drug overdoses, unlawful killings, and traffic accidents. The remaining 90 children died of natural causes, including health problems.
An independent review group has been set up to further investigate the circumstances of the deaths of the children in the care of the state. It is not yet known if the HSE is potentially liable for mistakes that may have been made in the provision of care the the children.
While the focus of news stories and investigations has been the number of child deaths, there has not yet been much focus on the potentially larger problem of injuries sustained by children in care.