Vulnerable children ‘still unprotected’

THE gap between promises and action to protect Ireland’s most vulnerable children has been criticised in a big new report commissioned by the Ombudsman for Children.

It says that such children have yet to benefit from coherent policy or targeted intervention supports or services — they are marginalised and, in some cases, discriminated against.

Those identified as being the most vulnerable are children in the care of criminal justice system; Traveller, immigrant and asylum seeking children; homeless children; children in poverty and children at risk of abuse and neglect.

Many of these children also face the additional obstacle of being isolated from their families and friends, without advocacy or support or anyone to lobby on their behalf. Author and children’s law expert Dr Ursula Kilkelly said children were enduring needless hardship because of the situation.

Dr Kilkelly, a senior law lecturer at University College Cork, said her research identified six principal barriers to the realisation of children’s rights as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

She found that children were largely invisible in law, policy and decision making; their rights were not explicitly protected in the constitution, in law or in policy and there was an absence of effective advocacy mechanisms, dedicated supports and services.

She found there was a lack of sustained and substantial investment in areas like education, family support services, healthcare and early childhood care and education and an absence of up-to-date research and data, information for children and parents and training for all those who work with and for children.

She said the State was failing to roll out the many positive initiatives taken to improve children’s lives and organisations established to improve the lives of children were not properly funded.

“We are doing things in a piecemeal, ad-hoc way and no one seems to have a grasp, or overview of how all of it comes together and impacts on children’s lives.”

Dr Kilkelly said children had rights and they must be listened to when policy decisions were being made in areas that affected them.

Ombudsman Emily Logan said that more than 200,000 children and young people were expected to vote on issues that matter to them in a nationwide ballot organised by her office in November.

“We are excited about the vote and its timing as the Constitutional referendum on children’s rights may now take place next year,” she said.

ISPCC’s Childline manager Deirdre Swords said the reportunderlined the importance of changing the constitution so that children would be treated as equal citizens.

Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay said the report was valuable because it identified those children unable to exercise rights that other children take for granted.