Separated Children Seeking Asylum
When a child arrives into Ireland without their parents or customary care providers, the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) at the airports or seaports contacts Tusla - the Child and Family Agency’s Social Work Team for Separated Children Seeking Asylum. The social workers carry out an immediate assessment of need and risk, and make appropriate arrangements for the accommodation, care and protection of the child in accordance with the Child Care Act, 1991.
An equity of care principle applies to separated children, which affords them the same standard of care provision as any other child in care. Tusla is committed to maintaining equity and equality of services to separated children vis a vis all children at risk or in state care, and to ensuring that there is no differentiation of care provision, care practices, care priorities, standards or protocols until the young person reaches 18 years.
Each separated child is allocated a child protection social worker, who is responsible for the development and implementation of an individualised statutory care plan for the child. They also supervise the standard of the child’s placement and provide services and support to meet the child’s needs. If the social work assessment indicates that applying for asylum in Ireland is in the child’s best interest, the social worker assists with the application for refugee status in accordance with the Refugee Act, 1996 (as amended).
In 2013, there were 120 referrals made to Tusla’s Team for Separated Children Seeking Asylum, and 97 were made in 2014. This compares with the peak year of 2001 when there were 1,085 referrals to the service.
Regarding accommodation, children are placed in family foster care, supported lodgings or in small children’s residential homes. The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) inspects, against national standards, foster care services, including private provision. HIQA also inspects Tusla residential centres, while Tusla registers and inspects voluntary and private children’s residential services.
