Children's hostel is 'inadequate'

One of the country's main centres for unaccompanied children seeking asylum does not provide proper care and protection for children, says a HSE report. By Emma Browne

The main accommodation centre for unaccompanied children aged 12 to 16 seeking asylum in Ireland is "inadequate", does not provide sufficient care and protection for the children, does not have its staff vetted by the Garda and, during key inspections, staff did not know the location of children staying at the centre. Despite these findings, contained in a HSE inspection report from July 2005, the centre continues to accommodate children who arrive in Ireland alone and seeking asylum.

At present all unaccompanied children over 12 seeking asylum in state care are placed in private hostels. These hostels are not required to meet the standards laid down for residential facilities for Irish children in state care and they are not inspected by the Social Services Inspectorate, which surveys all the residential facilities housing Irish children.

This report followed an inspection of the hostel, which is in Dublin, to establish if it could become a registered residential provider and then be eligible for inspection by the Social Services Inspectorate.

The report, which Village saw under a Freedom of Information request, found that the hostel did not meet the minimum standards that all accommodation providers for Irish children in state care must meet. It said the hostel is "inadequate and does not provide sufficient care and protection for this particular vulnerable group of people... At no time could the staff exactly say how many children were in the centre, or indeed where the young people had gone." The inspector noted that there are times when the children go to school and do not return until 9.30pm.

There has been concern in the past about the adequacy of supervision in the hostels. In the last five years, 316 unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in state care have gone missing. A HSE report from 2005 says they suspected missing children were being trafficked into prostitution. Children have also gone missing from the hostel. Since they began the service in 2002, 11 children have gone missing; two are still missing.

The inspection report also noted a problem with night supervision at the hostel. There have been two serious allegations made in relation to incidents of child protection during the night and after one complaint it took "an undue length of time" for a social worker to interview the complainant.

Jillian van Turnhout, chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, described it as "deeply worrying" that "any allegation of abuse against a child was not responded to in an appropriate manner in line with the Children First Guidelines". She added, "This incident requires investigation at a senior level."

The HSE registration and inspection service refused the hostel registration for two reasons – "the unsuitability of the premises and inadequate levels of staffing". Responding to hostel's non-compliance with HSE regulations the Children's Rights Alliance said, "Serious questions remain to be answered as to why the Health Service Executive has continued to fund a centre which failed its registration system and is therefore in breach of the Child Care Act 1991."

In a bid to comply with the standards for registration the hostel had employed new staff in April 2005. But up until then there had been no social worker or childcare worker employed in the hostel.

Under the new system there were 14 staff to care for 23 children. However the inspector found that this was also inadequate: "At the current staffing level they cannot guarantee the safety and protection of all the young people." Additionally they found that staff were not adequately vetted, there were no Garda clearances on file and none of the staff had three written references as required for HSE workers. They recommend that this be rectified as a "matter of urgency".

There are plans to move the children from the hostel to two alternative premises but at present it still accommodates unaccompanied children seeking asylum .

Under a Freedom of Information request, Village also saw a premises audit done by the HSE on hostels accommodating unaccompanied children seeking asylum aged 16 to 18. These audits were carried out in 2004 and were concerned with the health and safety of the hostels. They looked at 11 premises accommodating 272 unaccompanied children seeking asylum. The audits found that there were "significant deficits" in relation to safety issues. They said: "It is evident that the fundamental principals of fire safety, health and safety, and environmental health that should be in place in all premises accommodating children/ young people in care, are not..." In all but one of the premises environmental health had not been addressed at all. They said that all providers of accommodation for unaccompanied children seeking asylum- are "not sufficiently qualified or experienced in caring for children and young people to manage this successfully".

Speaking to Village, Jillian van Turnhout of the Children's Rights Alliance said, "The current level of supervision in the accommodation centres has proven to be inadequate for the purpose of protecting children from going missing and protecting those who have been victims of trafficking.

"The reports clearly indicated that the state has failed in its duty to these children."