Responsibility Family or State?

MorningStar

I assume many people heard of the O'Hare family that had five boys 4 of whom are autistic and 1 had burgous syndrome. They drive a huge amount of distances with little sleep due to the fact the kids sleep so little. Basically they hit all the media outlets to highlight their story.

Apparently the health board tried to take the kids into care! Mr. O'Hare suggested that it was because they made a fuss and not the childrens well being. Not sure on the details surrounding the care situtation anybody else know? I think they were only taken for a week on the grounds of forced respite

Anyway. Who was acting responsibily?
I have to be critical of the family on a few points regardless of how difficult there life now is.
1)Why did they keep having kids? I mean 2 special needs kids would make the most logical person think about having another child let alone another 3. To continue to have children sounds like a lack of responsibility.
2)Driving with constant lack of sleep is as dangerous as drink driving. The decission to drive such distancces for their childrens education seems irresponsible. Put everybody in their car ast risk along with òther road users.
3)As the services they require are in Dublin why don't they move to improve everybody's quality of life

On the goverment side
1) Why aren't there appropriate services avialble throughout the country? Not everybody is in DUblin and aren't they trying to decentralise everything?
2)Could they not have spoke to the family before trying to grab them?
3) Why overact to media stories all the time and not just act fairly

Wibbs

Was this not explored from a different angle in politics;

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=232288

Regardless of the feelings on the decision of the parents to keep having kids, a better question to ask might be; why the increase in the numbers of kids with autism in recent years?

Is it better diagnosis, environmental? 20yrs ago you just didn't hear about autism to the same degree. Similar thing with allergies too.

Shabadu

More and more people believe the increase in autism is linked directly to lack of omega 3 & 6 fish oils, and unbalanced diet as a whole. Will try to find a good link.

Shabadu

Here are a few:
diet help for treatment and a little blurb about autism resulting from lack of omega oils

more about affect on brainwaves rather than specifically about autism

bit short

cordelia

Let's discuss this subject point by point:

1)Why did they keep having kids? I mean 2 special needs kids would make the most logical person think about having another child let alone another 3. To continue to have children sounds like a lack of responsibility.

This may seem like a valid point. I briefly thought the same thing myself. However, many children have what is termed "regressive" autism. This means that a child develops normally and then regresses somewhere between the ages of 18 months to as late as 3. Their second son has high functioning autism. They may have made the decision to have another child, or been pregnant with the fourth, before the third started showing signs of severe autism.

2)Driving with constant lack of sleep is as dangerous as drink driving. The decission to drive such distancces for their childrens education seems irresponsible. Put everybody in their car ast risk along with òther road users.

A parent with a special needs child is willing to drive as far as possible to get their child appropriate services. You are told that the only placement available for your child is in Navan. The alternative is a two year waiting list. Hence, you get in the car and you drive to Navan. With autism time is brain. The older the child gets, the less likely they are to have the dramatic improvements associated with therapy.

3)As the services they require are in Dublin why don't they move to improve everybody's quality of life

Maybe their house is paid for? Maybe their family is in the same town? Why should they have to move for services?

What I do appreciate is your willingness to discuss both viewpoints:

2)Could they not have spoke to the family before trying to grab them?

Yes, they could have. Children with autism thrive best in a consistant routine. Anyone who deals with autistic children knows this. What the Health Board did was possible the worst of all choices. The children are probably showing signs of stress and have probably regressed. An already stressed family who acted in desperation is now unwilling to ask for more help.

1) Why aren't there appropriate services avialble throughout the country? Not everybody is in DUblin and aren't they trying to decentralise everything?

Education and health services in Ireland are straining under the bulk of increased immigration, inappropriate taxation, too much centralization, yadayadayada. I have yet to find ANY govt that is dealing appropriately with autism services (BTW, in Ireland it is estimated that 1 in 165 children born will be on the autistic spectrum) except some provinces in Canada and some East Coast states in America.

Wibbs

Interesting stuff there, Jr.Shabadu. That would suggest one of two things. Children in the past got more omega 3 & 6 in the diet, or something is destroying or preventing the uptake of said nutrients in today's population.

I would have thought that with more varied foodstuffs on offer in your average supermarket than before, the first would be less likely. I remember there was some talk about the MMR vaccine being blamed for changes in the digestive system of autistics.

I personally think the food we eat and the contaminants in the food, has a much bigger effect on our health than we realise.

There is some info on the possible link between autism and the mercury in vaccines. Check out the section on apex predator fish in this article as well;

http://www.discover.com/issues/mar-05/features/our-preferred-poison/

Incidently they pass salmon as safer in that article. That only holds true for wild salmon. The farmed variety are way more toxic due to the food they get.

cordelia

Ah Jeysus, I went a little overboard
My apologies...
This topic is near and dear as I have experienced autism in my family.

Anyway, some information for you:

http://www.iol.ie/~isa1/

http://www.hrb.ie/view_categories.php?doc_id=1052&cat_id=61


Some questions that I had regarding this case:

1) Where is the extended family for this couple?
2) Why did the father quit his job - could he not have used privately hired respite care?
3) What kind of therapies are they using for their children?
4) Children are not usually taken into care unless there is a risk of harm. So, do we really know everything that was going on in the home? Or did the parents simply make the mistake of saying "I'm about to completely lose it" and the Health Board took it to mean "I'm going to hurt my children?"

Wibbs

No apology needed cordelia. Informative post. I for one would like to know more about this subject.

Shabadu

Wibbs wrote:

That would suggest one of two things. Children in the past got more omega 3 & 6 in the diet

This is quite true, I recommend you read Trawler by Redmond O'Hanlon to see thedecline in the intake of oily fish and the increase in seretonin-based brain deficiencies.

Wibbs wrote:

I remember there was some talk about the MMR vaccine being blamed for changes in the digestive system of autistics.

This has recently been categorically disproved. here's one link

Wibbs wrote:

I personally think the food we eat and the contaminants in the food, has a much bigger effect on our health than we realise.

I absolutely agree.