DESPITE growing awareness of institutional abuse, disabled children in residential care are specifically excluded from the provisions of the Child Care Act, 1991. Today the Disability Federation of Ireland will launch a code of practice for all voluntary organisations working with children with disabilities to protect them from abuse. Roger Acton, chief executive of the DFI, is urging the Government to "amend the present Child Care Act to give the same protections and rights to disabled children as are now enjoyed by able bodied children".
