A child goes missing and the community swings into action. But not so for a child in care

Vulnerable children in the care of the State, migrant children, those on the margins go missing every day and some remain missing long-term. Does anyone really care?

Vector silhouettes of a mother and father holding hands with dotted outline of a child.

Their faces stare out from newspapers, websites and social media. Young people, their faces caught in a moment of time. Children and teenagers of different backgrounds, all with a common theme — they are among more than 800 people currently missing in Ireland.

But unlike the majority of missing people in this country, these young people are in the State’s care and some regularly abscond from their residential settings, resulting in yet another Garda missing person’s appeal. In the case of some, they are back in the care of the State for just days — or sometimes hours — before going missing again.