Thomas P. Broughan
Question:944. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No.146 of 4 December 2013 if the report referred to in the reply is now to hand. [13229/14]
View answerTuesday, 25 March 2014
Questions (944)
Written answers
In accordance with the Children Missing From Care - A Joint Protocol between An Garda Síochána and the Health Service Executive Children and Family Services a child is defined as missing where they are 'absent without permission, his/her whereabouts are not known, he/she has passed his/her Curfew Testing Limit and/or Carers have knowledge that gives them cause to be concerned for the child's immediate safety.'
The Child and Family Agency has informed my Department that it does not maintain a register for the number of children who go missing and are subsequently found and re-entered into the care system. The Agency does however maintain a national record of the number of children who go missing from care and who are not recovered. From this record, I have been advised of the following:
- In 2012 there were three children who went missing from care and have not been relocated; one child was 16, one was almost 18 and the third child is now an adult.
- In 2013 there were two children who went missing from care and who have not been relocated, they were both 17 years old at the time they went missing.