17 children missing from care never found

JUST five of the 22 juvenile asylum seekers who went missing from the care of the Health Service Executive last year were later found.

New HSE figures show that at the end of last year there were 181 children in the care of the HSE under the Separated Children Seeking Asylum service.

Both Barnardos and the Irish Refugee Council expressed concern that children are still going missing from HSE care, although they welcomed the fact that the number of missing juvenile asylum seekers has fallen in recent years.

In 2001, 81 separated minors seeking asylum went missing from HSE care. By 2007 this figure had fallen to 32, and last year fell to 22.

The HSE said the majority of separated children seeking asylum are reunited with family here, and understand that many of those who go missing rejoin family here or elsewhere.

The HSE also said it had increased resources to the team for Separated Children Seeking Asylum, with the addition of a number of professional childcare workers, which had resulted in an improved service to this client group.

Norah Gibbons, Barnardos’ director of advocacy, said that while international data suggested that half of those children who go missing are re-united with their families, “the worrying question for any childcare professional is that we do not know”.

Fears have been expressed in the past that some of the missing minors may have been exploited after being trafficked here.

“We do know that they are among the most vulnerable, as they have no parents or guardians to look after them and they are vulnerable to traffickers,” Ms Gibbons said.

She also expressed concern that services for minors seeking asylum might not be prioritised in the current economic climate, but said the anti-trafficking unit established in the Department of Justice was doing “excellent work” in providing training.

However, there had been a “double standard” in that foreign minors had not received a similar standard of service as Irish children.

Roisin Boyd, spokesperson for the Irish Refugee Council, said 22 children going missing was “still too many” and said there needed to be clear guidelines and procedures regarding age assessment of some of those entering HSE care as minors.

“A lot of people will have been trafficked here and that is why they might go missing,” she said, adding: “Having 17 children still missing is not an ideal situation”.