Professionals acting for children to remain with them throughout trial

The Cabinet has approved new rules requiring guardian ad litems - who represent the interests of children and vulnerable teenagers in court - to remain with them for the duration of the trial process, the Irish Examiner reports.

Yesterday’s Cabinet meeting also approved the re-appointment of Geoffrey Shannon as Ireland’s special rapporteur for child protection.

Plans for a new statutory guardian ad litem service approved yesterday include a new legal obligation for guardians to stay with their clients throughout the family court or social services system proceedings.

Currently the law only requires guardians to care for their clients during hearings, leaving vulnerable teenagers and children at risk of being left without support throughout the length of a court process.

Barnardos, which operates the most established national guardian ad litem service in the country, represented more than 800 children in the court and social services systems in 2014, currently employees more than 30 guardians, who are selected after a thorough interview process, Garda vetting, training, and presentation of full references.

The new legislation will mean that a guardian ad litem is only allowed to represent a child in an official capacity upon a judge’s ruling.

A guardian can be appointed where parents are unable to or are unwilling to partake in a court process, or where there are significant cultural or language difficulties.