Hostel closure ‘will not help children’

THE closure of hostels housing separated children seeking asylum will not result in any tangible improvement in their lives unless their new living arrangements are carefully monitored, children’s rights groups have warned.

Earlier this month an Irish Examiner report revealed stark failures in the hostel care system, including children going missing, involvement in prostitution and lack of access to formal education.

In response, the Children’s Rights Alliance has said it is not convinced that the transfer of some of these children into foster care was a solution.

Chief executive of the alliance, Jillian van Turnhout, said while on paper the new system of placing children with foster families “looks good”, their organisation had anecdotal evidence of children being asked to move at 24 hours notice to families they have not yet met.

She said in the event of a placement breakdown they had concerns that the child would be placed “in crisis/emergency centres exposing them to other young people with chaotic behaviour and drug use”.

The last of the six Dublin hostels used to house separated children closed in December as per a recommendation of the 2009 Ryan Report Implementation Plan.

The HSE said all children in the hostels under the age of 18 have since been accommodated in either foster care or residential care homes.

However, a senior member of Crosscare, a Dublin-based social care agency that works with the disadvantaged, said it was unclear who was monitoring the new foster care arrangements.

Gordon Hill, social care manager for children’s residential services with Crosscare, said while foster care was “at the higher end of the spectrum of ideal care” it was “unclear what Plan B is” should one of the foster placements break down.

The HSE said foster care services are monitored by HSE monitors and the Health Information and Quality Authority. Separated children seeking asylum aged over 18 are now provided with services under the Equity of Care Policy “which ensures that they have access to the same range of services as children of Irish nationality”.