Central to the mandate of my office as the Ombudsman for Child-ren is Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – listening to children and young people, and promoting their rights and welfare.
There are many categories of vulnerable children that need our support and their human rights protected, but it has been of particular concern to me that one of the most vulnerable groups is also one of the most invisible.
This group is defined as ‘separated’ children. They are children under the age of 18 who are outside their country of origin with no parent or legal guardian.
They arrive in Ireland for a variety of complex reasons, including fear of harm, armed conflict or disturbances in their home country. They may be victims of trafficking for sexual or other exploitation, or may have travelled to escape conditions of serious deprivation.
These children are immediately placed in care of the State, and responsibility for provision of services to these children lies with many agencies.
At the start of this year my office commenced work on a special project with separated children. The aim of this was to hear from these children and let them speak freely about the issues that affect them, including education, healthcare and accommodation.
Over the course of the project, we heard about the pain of their lives before they came to Ireland, and the pain of loss and separation from parents and siblings. We also heard about the services provided to them in Ireland.
But of most concern were the issues regarding the safety and protection of these children.
Many of these children are housed in unregistered, privately run institutions, where it is not uncommon for staff to have no professional care training.
Members of my team visited nine hostels for separated children during our project. Of these nine hostels, seven are operated by private institutions on behalf of the HSE.
The Child Care Act 1991 specifically states that all residential centres for children should be independently inspected. However, these hostels are not subject to such monitoring, unlike residential centres where Irish children are cared for. This is in breach of domestic and international legislation.
We also heard of concerns about the asylum determination process. Any such process must adhere to the rigours of the law. But what is missing is the fact that, first and foremost, these people are children. Any such process should be sensitive to their needs, and considerations of their immigration status should be secondary.
Over 400 separated children have gone missing in Ireland since 2000. Very few of them reappear, which means we know little about the reasons for their disappearance. Children who have been trafficked into this country are an extremely high-risk group and we should be concerned for their safety.
This all demonstrates a disparity of care for separated children compared with Irish children in the care system. In the mainstream there are always care workers on duty – day and night – and the number of care workers is far higher than in the unregistered hostels for separated children.
By endorsing a second-class system of care for separated children, the State is abdicating its responsibilities to some of the most vulnerable children in Ireland today.
Ensuring that separated children have access to an equal standard of care, and that their accommodation centres are subject to independent inspection, are two of the ten recommendations that I am making to Government to improve the situation for these children.
A full copy of the report can be viewed at www.oco.ie
Emily Logan is the Ombudsman for Children
