Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 October 2015
13. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the provisions being made to ensure refugee children who enter Ireland in the coming months will be provided with the care they need upon arrival. [35506/15]
View answerMy colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, has primary responsibility in the area of asylum and immigration. Policy responsibility for such refugee children travelling with their parents, insofar as it extends to my Department, is in relation to providing care and protection for any children where their welfare and safety are identified as a concern.
Children, separated from their parents, who arrive in this jurisdiction and present seeking asylum, are placed in the care of the State. The majority of separated children are placed in foster care around the country. Tusla also has a dedicated Social Work team dealing with separated children seeking asylum. Separated children are a vulnerable cohort and the State is duty bound by international and domestic law to protect and provide for them in the same way as it does for children normally resident in the State.
Each separated child is allocated a social worker, who is responsible for the development and implementation of an individualised statutory care plan for the child. Tusla maintains the equity and equality of services to separated children vis a vis other children in state care and ensures that there is no differentiation of standard care provision, care practices, care priorities, standards or protocols. All foster care organisations and residential centres are inspected against national standards.
The Direct Provision system is also under the policy remit of my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality. Children living in Direct Provision are in the care of their parent(s). However, any concerns about the welfare, safety or well-being of a child in Direct Provision are reported to Tusla, in line with Children First guidelines. Tusla has been working closely with the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) of the Department of Justice and Equality, which has responsibility for accommodation in the direct provision system and on information sharing protocols.
With regard to the welfare of children in Direct Provision centres, I have been advised by my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, that there are a range of supports available to families resident within the centres including services provided by the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Health.
