Health authorities are failing to protect hundreds of separated children seeking asylum from the risk of abuse or exploitation because of a lack of follow-up checks on young people reunited with adults claiming to be their relatives, according to an unpublished report for the Health Service Executive. Carl O'Brien, Social Affairs Correspondent, reports.
Out of more than 4,000 young people seeking asylum who arrived in the State on their own since 1999, at least 2,000 have been reunited with people claiming to be family members.
However, an independent review of the service obtained by The Irish Times says that, despite evidence that some children are being trafficked here to be exploited, the reunification process is "rushed", "inadequately validated" and "undeveloped".
The report, completed last year, which the HSE has refused to release under the Freedom of Information Act, found that in most health board areas there was no proper follow-up monitoring or support services for children reunited with family members.
It cites examples, quoted by a senior barrister who adjudicates on appeals by separated children seeking asylum, of cases where children aged between four and 17 were reunited with "unsatisfactory" and "unsuitable" adults.
They include: a 15-year-old boy made to work full-time and prevented from attending school by the person into whose care he was placed by a health board; a four-year-old boy who was reunited with a failed asylum-seeking male who had fabricated a birth certificate and school report for the boy; a minor placed with her 18-year-old sister as "guardian". The sister was also an asylum-seeker and was herself fleeing alleged sexual abuse.
In the reunification process, separate interviews with children and adults take place regarding information such as the child's identity and family background. If it matches, they are reunited. Where there are considerable discrepancies or concerns, a child may be received into care pending further investigation.
However, staff involved in these interviews told the report's author that they had concerns about the quality of information they had to verify regarding separated children and adults claiming to be relatives.
These concerns included: only one interview took place to decide if a child and adult were "family"; some children were being coached to give answers; difficulties verifying documents provided by adults or children; lack of data to determine if an adult had previously been involved in reunification.
A HSE spokesman said last night that it had received the report and had taken steps to improve aspects of the process. DNA tests were being routinely used in cases where there was a cause for concern.
It is understood that Minister for Children, Brian Lenihan, who received the report last year, has established a group involving officials from a number of Government departments to act on its findings.