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Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 16 Jun 2009

Vol. 196 No. 1

Children in Care.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Áine Brady, to the House and I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to raise this very important matter. I seek an update on the exact number of children who have gone missing from the care of the Health Service Executive, HSE. I am aware that in recent years in excess of 360 children have gone missing from the care of the HSE, including Irish children and unaccompanied non-national minors. I seek also an update on the measures employed to locate these children, whether the Garda has been informed, if search campaigns have been launched, how many of the missing children have been found and, when found, what measures were undertaken to ascertain the reasons for going missing from the care of the HSE. This matter is especially pertinent in light of the recent Ryan report which drew attention to the fact that in the past children frequently went missing from the care of the State in cases in which it was a reflection of another underlying matter of distress. Therefore, in the case of any child who goes missing it would be very useful to ensure there is in place a procedure to establish the cause of running away.

I am aware, especially in the case of unaccompanied non-national minors, of anecdotal accounts of some children who, upon arrival to the State unaccompanied, enter the care of the HSE but then go missing because they try to join up with their families who are already in the State. However, I am also aware there is concern that some of these children may be intentionally trafficked to Ireland. We have signed the Hague Convention and we are amending legislation through the new Adoption Bill to ensure we are in compliance. We have a particular responsibility not only on a human level but legislatively to ensure we discharge our requirements in preventing trafficking. I seek further information from the Minister of State, although she may not have it to hand. There is concern with the reunification procedures for uniting unaccompanied children with alleged family members. Anecdotal evidence suggests the authorities ask the children for an account and they then ask the adult, allegedly the family member, for an account. If both accounts tally, the authorities are then satisfied that those concerned are members of the same family. There is concern that if a child is being trafficked to Ireland it would be easy to give the child a story and to ensure whatever adult turned up to claim a familial relationship to have the same or a similar story. Will the Minister of State have this matter and the procedures for unification re-examined? Is it possible to update our procedures to reflect the advances in science? There is no reason a deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, test should not be required to prove, beyond doubt, that there is a familial connection between the adult claiming the relationship and the child.

I welcome the commitment given that residential facilities for unaccompanied, non-national children will no longer be exempt from inspection. Will the Minister of State indicate if there is a timeframe for the commencement of the inspectorate for these residential facilities for children?

I am taking the Adjournment on behalf of my colleagues, Deputy Mary Harney, Minister for Health and Children, and Deputy Barry Andrews, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children with responsibility for children and youth affairs. I thank Senator Corrigan for raising this matter and I welcome the opportunity to respond to the Adjournment.

The HSE has indicated that in the short timeframe available it is unable to provide all the information requested due to definitional variances between the different HSE areas. The most recent complete and verified full year data in respect of children missing from care are for 2006. The HSE has advised that in 2006, 181 children went missing from the care of the HSE and, of these, 180 were subsequently accounted for. The figure does not include separated children seeking asylum.

Information in respect of the numbers of separated children seeking asylum and missing from care is provided from 2000 to 2008. In this period 454 separated children seeking asylum went missing from the care of the HSE and, of these, 58 were subsequently accounted for. These figures relate to the Dublin south east area where the majority of separated children seeking asylum are cared for.

The majority of separated children seeking asylum who go missing are aged between 16 and 17 years and, in many cases, abscond very soon after arriving in the country. The suspicion is that many of these children may have preplanned this with persons unknown prior to entering the country. This may be done with the objective of reuniting with their families, who have already arrived in the State, or with the intention of relocating to other European countries where their families are located.

As part of its response to this problem, the HSE has commenced a process to change its model of care for separated minors such that they can avail of foster care and residential care arrangements across a broader spectrum than previously.

There is recognition that the service needs to be considered on a national basis. Plans are in progress to move the focus away from Dublin as a service point and in the future separated children will be placed appropriately across the country. As a parallel process, the hostels currently in use in Dublin will be phased out. It is the objective of the HSE that all separated children will, in the future, as soon as is feasibly possible, be placed in foster care in a registered residential care placement or its equivalent. The increased supervision these care arrangements will provide should result in fewer children going missing. I am aware that the HSE has developed a strong working relationship with the Garda National Immigration Bureau in relation to missing children.

Every incidence of missing children is taken very seriously. The reasons for children going missing from care are varied and complex and cannot be viewed in isolation from associated factors such as in-care experience and home dynamics. Every missing child episode should attract proper attention from the professionals involved and they must collaborate to ensure a consistent and coherent response is given to the missing child on his or her return. A joint national protocol between the HSE and the Garda authorities regarding all children who go missing from care was signed on 22 April 2009. The protocol outlines the roles and responsibilities of both agencies regarding children missing from care. The protocol seeks to maximise inter-agency co-operation and promote the safety and welfare of children. The joint aim of the protocol is to reduce the incidence of children going missing from care placements, to prevent those children from suffering harm and to return them to safety as soon as possible. The protocol is being disseminated nationally.

A key element of the protocol is a commitment from the HSE to ensure that sufficient knowledge and information about the child is recorded to provide the Garda Síochána with the information necessary for the investigative process, in the event that the child goes missing. This includes keeping a recent good quality photograph of the child on the child's record.

Another important feature of the protocol is the establishment of a Garda liaison role with the HSE care placements at local level. The local liaison role includes a mechanism to identify children in care who are reported missing frequently and to escalate responsibility for them to an appropriate level of authority in both organisations.

The Government is committed to ensuring that all children in care are cared for in a safe and secure environment. It is hoped that the implementation of the joint national protocol will reduce the incidence of children going missing from care and will ensure their safe return.

I welcome the improved measures but I am really shocked by the number of children still missing. According to these figures, just fewer than 400 children have gone missing from the care of the HSE. While I appreciate the detail in this reply, particularly with regard to protocols and procedures for the future, it is very difficult to get a sense of what is being done for the 400 children who are still missing. My concern is that this indicates that Ireland could easily be perceived as a soft location for people who wish to traffic children and, from that perspective, the reply is alarming.

I appreciate the Minister of State is replying on behalf of her colleagues but I note full figures are only available for 2006 in the case of Irish children. I ask that the figures for 2007 and 2008 be forwarded when they become available. I note the report says there can be complex reasons for children to go missing and some reasons reflect in-care experience or other social factors. However, there is no sense in the report that we have tried to establish the reason in the cases of each of these children. I ask the Minister of State to refer this to her colleagues as a matter of urgency. The Minister of State may not have the information to hand but, if possible, I ask that the inspectorate of residential services for children be treated as a matter of urgency and that the reunification process for reuniting children with their families be reviewed.

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