Ireland must change the way it deals with foreign minors who come here and go missing, argues Jyothi Kanics. If we do not, they are prey to traffickers
Last year, the Health Service Executive (HSE) reported that 328 migrant children had gone missing from care in the period from 2001 to 2005.
Disturbingly, the real number of missing children may be even higher as these figures represent only those who have presented to the HSE. The cumulative figure is likely to have risen significantly by now as previous statistics indicate that, on average, at least one migrant child goes missing from care every week, with little or no public outcry.
Such children are among the many "separated children" or "unaccompanied minors" who are under 18 years of age and who have arrived in Ireland in recent years without the company of their parents or legal/customary primary caregiver.
Having worked with Save The Children, managing the Separated Children in Europe programme from 2004 to 2007, I met many such children who are often deserving of international protection as refugees as they have fled from persecution, armed conflict or abuse.
Beyond the statistics, there is very little information about how and why separated children leave care and what happens to them afterwards. It is a concern that some cases show the exploitation and neglect of these children such as that of a 15-year-old Somali girl who was rescued from a brothel by gardaí last year and placed in HSE care. A request for an extra childcare worker to supervise the girl was refused. Without adequate staffing to watch over her 24 hours, the vulnerable girl went missing again from the centre within days.
Of the hundreds of children gone missing in Ireland, it appears only a few have been found. One example, reported earlier this year, concerned a 17-year-old Nigerian girl discovered when detectives raided a brothel in Sligo. She had been placed in the care of the HSE after arriving unaccompanied in Ireland six months earlier and went missing.
Cases like these illustrate that traffickers may be behind the movement and disappearance of some children. We need better child protection measures in place urgently.
For instance, more concerted efforts need to be made in identifying and registering separated children upon arrival. This would require more training and better inter-agency co-operation, perhaps along the lines of Operation Paladin in the UK, which forged a partnership at Heathrow Airport between immigration, police, social services and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children with the aim of carrying out risk assessments for every separated child identified entering the UK.
As advocated previously by the Irish Refugee Council and the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, a social work service should be provided at ports and airports to assist in the identification, assessment and referral of vulnerable children. When a child arrives at an Irish port or airport outside of working hours, a social worker must be made available to the child, who should be registered as soon as possible.
While registration systems may assist once a child has gone missing, providing suitable accommodation, care and guardianship are essential to preventing disappearances. Unfortunately, as the Irish Refugee Council's recent report, Making Separated Children Visible, highlights, separated children receive a lesser provision of care and support compared with Irish children. Many separated children are placed in hostels that are not adequately secured and do not have cameras that could assist in providing invaluable information in the event that a child does go missing. Additionally, the ratio of social workers to separated children is too low. It has been reported that more than one-half of the separated children in care have infrequent or no contact with their social worker. In comparison with care arrangements in other countries, where two social workers may be working with up to eight children, the reality in Ireland has been that one social worker may be responsible for more than 30 children.
Ideally, in addition to support from social workers, as soon as a separated child is identified, an independent professional guardian should be appointed to advise them and to ensure all decisions are taken in the child's best interests. The support and attention provided by a professional guardian may be reassuring for the child concerned and provide a deterrent to factors that might influence them to leave care. Furthermore, the guardian should ensure that the child's views are heard as recommended by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in its recent concluding observations to Ireland. The commitment to appoint a guardian to all separated children was made in the National Children's Strategy and recently endorsed in at least one party's election manifesto.
Separated children should have permanent residency status in a timely manner when this is found to be in their best interests. Such status should bring with it equal rights to education, vocational training and work on a par with those of national children.
Children going missing from care is not unique to Ireland and is part of the reason why the EU and others recognise today as International Missing Children's Day.
The incoming government must commit itself to fulfilling its international obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and to providing better protection to these vulnerable children. Without stability and prospects, children whom we protect today may fall prey to traffickers tomorrow when they leave residential care or are returned to their countries of origin.
• Jyothi Kanics is separated children's officer at the Irish Refugee Council