Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

Appointment of a guardian ad litem, GAL, is provided under section 26 of the Child Care Act 1991. Under this provision, the court may appoint a guardian ad litem to a child who is the subject of care proceedings, if it is satisfied that it is necessary in the interests of the child and in the interests of justice to do so. They are always appointed where a child is subject to special care proceedings. I should point out that I do not have a role in the appointment of guardians. That is a matter for the courts.

Under the Child Care Act 1991, the Health Service Executive, HSE, is responsible for the care and protection of separated children seeking asylum until they reach 18 years of age. Their immediate and ongoing needs as well as their application for refugee status are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive in accordance with the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended) and the Child Care Act 1991. Where children are identified by An Garda Síochána, at the point of entry, their circumstances are investigated and if there are any concerns about their welfare, they are placed into the care of the HSE. In the majority of cases, separated children seeking asylum are not subject to court proceedings as the HSE accepts them into care on a voluntary basis.

When a separated child seeking asylum comes into care, he or she is allocated a professionally qualified social worker. The child's needs are assessed and he or she is placed in the most appropriate placement. A social worker also assists the young person with his or her application for asylum. The social workers allocated to separated children seeking asylum have received specialised training in this regard.

There is a national policy on standards for separated children. The policy states - it did not always say this but it does now - that those children should be treated equally with other vulnerable children and that there will be no differentiation of care provision, care practice, care priorities, standards or protocols for those children. That is extremely important. The number of children seeking asylum has steadily declined since its peak of 1,085 in 2001 to just 105 in 2010.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

The Implementation Plan on the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, 2009, contained a commitment that the HSE would end the use of separately run hostels for separated children seeking asylum and accommodate children in mainstream care, on a par with other children in the care system. In accordance with this commitment, the HSE phased out hostel type care for separated children seeking asylum and since January 2011, hostels have not been used to accommodate unaccompanied minors. Instead each child is cared for either in a foster care placement or a children's residential centre. Social workers, residential staff and foster carers are trained in the needs of separated children seeking asylum and are attentive to children who are not settling in a placement or those who may be particularly vulnerable due to past abuse or other trauma.

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