Children Act, 2001

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Supervision in community.

207.—(1) Where a child is detained in a children detention school, the Director of the school may at any time, after consultation with the principal probation and welfare officer, authorise the placing out of the child under supervision in the community to reside with his or her parents or guardian or a responsible person who is willing to receive and take charge of the child.

(2) Before authorising a placing out under subsection (1), the Director shall be satisfied that the child will continue to receive appropriate education or training while he or she is placed out and that the placing out conforms to the rules of the school's board of management in that regard.

(3) A child placed out under subsection (1) shall be under the supervision in the community of a probation and welfare officer.

(4) (a)  An authorisation under subsection (1) shall be in writing and be signed by the Director and shall specify—

(i) the name of the person who is willing to receive and take charge of the child, and

(ii) any conditions imposed by the Director which he or she considers appropriate and which are consistent with any rules made by the board of management of the school under section 179 .

(b)  The child shall comply with any conditions so specified.

(5) Where a child is placed out under this section, the Director shall ensure that at the time of the placing out—

(a) the conditions of the child's placing out are communicated in writing to the child, to the person receiving and taking charge of the child and to the probation and welfare officer supervising the child in the community, and

(b) the placing out and those conditions are notified to the member in charge of the Garda Síochána station for the area in which the child will be residing.

(6) A placing out under this section shall be in force until revoked or until the period of detention imposed by the court has expired, whichever is the sooner, and while it is in force the child shall be deemed to be under the care of the Director.

(7) The Director may at any time, after consultation with the principal probation and welfare officer, revoke a placing out where—

(a) he or she has reason to believe that it is necessary to do so for the protection or welfare of the child,

(b) the child, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with a condition imposed under subsection (4) (a) (ii), or

(c) the child is not receiving appropriate education or training,

and order the child to return to the school.

(8) Any child escaping from the person with whom he or she is placed out shall be liable to the same penalty as if he or she had escaped from the school itself.

(9) The period during which a child who is placed out is absent from a school shall be deemed to be part of the child's period of detention in the school but, if a child fails to return to the school when the placing out is revoked, the time that elapses thereafter shall be excluded in calculating the period during which he or she is to be detained.

(10) Where a member of the Garda Síochána has been notified that a child whose placing out has been revoked refuses or fails, without reasonable cause, to return to the school, the member may arrest the child without warrant and forthwith return the child to the school.

(11) Where a placing out of a child has been revoked and the child has returned or has been returned to the school, the Director of the school shall inform the member in charge of the Garda Síochána station for the area where the child resided accordingly.

(12) Where a child is found guilty of an offence committed while placed out, the placing out shall be deemed to be revoked.