A course of therapy

[Gob]

The mother of a troubled 16-year-old boy has slammed council officials for allowing him to set up home with his blonde 33-year-old care worker.

The mother said she was furious after nothing was done to prevent her son moving in with Vicky Callaghan, who was one of his support team at his residential school. Mrs Callaghan, who has two children under five, resigned from her job as mental health practitioner at the school for boys with severe emotional and behavioural problems after the affair came to light. Police and social workers have visited the pair as part of a council child protection investigation and a report has concluded: ‘Technically both parties are able to be in a relationship with each other regardless of how “appropriate” this is.’

But the boy’s mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has described the situation as ‘absolutely disgraceful’. She said: ‘I knew my son was close to Vicky, but I didn’t realise just how close.
‘I have seen a lot of pictures of them together, but you wouldn’t dream they’d go off together. ‘I can’t believe the council allowed it and I can’t understand how this woman has been allowed to get away with it.’
The mother, who has five other children and lives with her partner in a two-bedroom council maisonette, added that her son had been referred to the school because he had dyslexia, and that ‘this Vicky’ had told her he had anger issues.

‘I asked her what the school was going to do about it and she said they would give him a course of therapy.



‘The next thing I knew they were shacked up together. Is that what they call therapy these days? What exactly are they running there?’ The boy’s mother admits to an unconventional lifestyle. She lists her hobbies as ‘the Sun, Brothers cider, and Pit Bulls’ on a social networking site. As she spoke to The Mail on Sunday she apologised for wearing a teddy bear-style hat, saying: ‘I’ve just had my hair done.’
Suspicions about the relationship were first raised when Mrs Callaghan’s colleagues noticed her and the boy having frequent one-to-one sessions. Things came to a head when they were spotted together outside the school, which is strictly forbidden. She was reportedly seen picking him up in his car. Mrs Callaghan and the boy, who has left the school, now live in a smart three-bedroom bungalow in a well-heeled village about a mile from the former home she shared with her estranged husband Peter, 46.


Mrs Callaghan said it would be ‘inappropriate’ to talk about the relationship when The Mail on Sunday visited her at the bungalow. She answered the door and smiled as the 16-year-stood stood behind her in the hallway. ‘I really would love to put the record straight and give my side of the story but I can’t,’ she told a reporter. Mr Callaghan knew the boy, who reportedly walks around the village holding hands with and kissing Mrs Callaghan, because he also used to work at the school, as a social worker. He too has complained about the relationship being allowed to continue. A relative said: ‘He was basically told that because the teenager hadn’t made a complaint, there was nothing anyone could do.’ In an internal report, seen by The Mail on Sunday, a senior council official wrote: ‘It is clear that Mrs Callaghan has shown very poor judgment and that she has abused her position of trust and should not be allowed to work with young people in future.’

[Scooter]

Don't y'all have laws about sex between minors (even if above the normal age of consent) and those in positions of authority over them? I would have thought that Canadian law had borrowed from British law in this regard.

[Sean]

She quit her job Scoot. Duty of Care laws no longer apply.

[Scooter]

It wouldn't matter here, they obviously started seeing each other romantically as a result of their therapeutic relationship while he was a minor.

Isn't there some professional body to whom she would be accountable that would see this for the gross ethical breach that it is, even setting aside their ages.

[oldr_n_wsr]

This kid is going to need help, and a lot of it, when she moves on.

[Gob]

Isn't there some professional body to whom she would be accountable that would see this for the gross ethical breach that it is, even setting aside their ages.

It depends. She's labelled in the article as "one of his support team" and "mental health practitioner", she could have been just a low skilled support worker, maybe with some counselling certificates etc. She'll certainly be banned from youth work in future.

[rubato]

the point of therapy is to make you feel better yes?

[dales]

not necessarily

[oldr_n_wsr]

I thought it was to get one past (or work out or through) whatever is troubling you. Feeling better may be the end result, but not necessarily.