County Meath social services quietly widens scope of formal review; investigators are not saying what that means, which is itself something

A formal review opened by the County Meath Department of Social Services into what case workers have declined to officially characterize as a changeling situation has been expanded to include a second child residing in the same household. This expansion was confirmed Thursday by a departmental spokesperson who described it as a procedural development and then stopped talking. Fourteen witnesses are on record. The investigation is ongoing. The department has not used the word changeling in any official communication, which WTC considers notable given that we are the ones who used it first and no one has called to dispute it.

The original review was opened six weeks ago following concerns raised by extended family members regarding the behavior, physical presentation, and, according to three separate witness accounts, the dietary preferences of a child in the household. The department did not confirm those concerns at the time. They have not confirmed them now. What they have done is expand the investigation, which is the sort of thing you do when the first situation turns out to be adjacent to a second situation, and I have been doing this long enough to know that adjacency is rarely accidental.

Community Notice

What Investigators Are and Are Not Saying

The departmental spokesperson, who provided a statement via email and has not returned calls since, said that the expanded scope reflects the department’s commitment to thorough and comprehensive review of all relevant circumstances within the household. She did not define relevant. She did not define circumstances. She did not respond to a follow-up question from Intern Greg, who I will note asked it without being prompted and used complete sentences, which is progress. The department has also declined to characterize whether the two children are related by blood, by placement, or by some third category they are not prepared to put a name to. This is the detail I keep coming back to.

The second child presented differently. That’s all I’ll say. Differently in ways that are difficult to put into a report without the report going somewhere neither of us wants it to go.

— Anonymous, Former County Meath Case Contractor, identity withheld at source’s request

The folklore record on changelings in County Meath is, I want to be careful here, extensive. That is not an editorial position. It is a research note. WTC is not in the business of telling you what the investigation will find. We are in the business of telling you that there is an investigation, that it has grown, that fourteen people have spoken to authorities, that the department is choosing its words with a precision that suggests the words it is not choosing are doing a great deal of work, and that a second child is now formally within scope. I wrote that sentence three times before I let it go to teleprompter. I wanted to make sure it was accurate. It is.

I’ve been doing this work for nineteen years. I don’t make referrals lightly. I made two on this case. That’s the only thing I’m prepared to say.

— Dr. Siobhán Carey, Child and Family Services Consultant, County Meath

WTC will continue to cover this investigation as it develops. We have a correspondent in the field and are awaiting access to the departmental case file, a request which has been acknowledged but not granted, which is also a kind of information. The radio on my desk has been running about four pitches higher than usual since this story came in yesterday afternoon. I do not know what that means. I note it anyway. It is the sort of thing I have learned not to ignore. We will update you when there is more to report. There will be more to report.