Ms Tanya Ward:

Because the legislation is vague and does not specify exactly what the accommodation options are for unaccompanied minors, and because it says Tusla is responsible for the representative service at this point, given the current numbers I would expect that Tusla is struggling with those numbers. How it has being trying to manage the numbers of young people coming in is that the social workers have been trying to do the assessments. Tusla has been talking to the IPO about it doing the age assessments, because the need to do those assessments that has put additional pressure on the social work team for newly arrived children seeking protection. Tusla has been accommodating some young people under what is called section 5, instead of the other aspects of the childcare Acts. Section 5 relates to the obligation to provide housing and accommodation. It is a very important feature because sometimes young people find themselves without accommodation. Tusla will provide them temporarily with accommodation and try to assess and work out where their families are to reunify them. Therefore, that is very important.

I expect that if Tusla has to provide the representative service, it will be under pressure. I have not spoken to Tusla about this but I expect it will be. I know it believes this work should be done by an independent service because it is effectively the corporate guardian for unaccompanied minors. We are suggesting that the new guardian ad litem service that the Department of children is establishing could be the best vehicle for that because it will provide guardians ad litem for children in the childcare courts. That might be the best possible option here. That would free Tusla up to focus on the quality of care it is providing to unaccompanied minors. As the draft legislation does not specify what the accommodation or care options are for unaccompanied minors - the pact deals with that - we would expect that it would fall back to the childcare Acts.

At present Tusla uses either section 4, 5 or 17 of the Acts to accommodate unaccompanied minors. This would remain the same but when it comes to section 5, which only provides for accommodation, we would like to see other rights and entitlements emerging. We could create a presumption that all unaccompanied minors are in care. This is what the Ombudsman for Children has recommended also. We would also like to see an entitlement to aftercare because it is like a cliff at present. Many young people who arrive are 17 and at present the care system does not include a right to aftercare. This means that when they turn 18 they get access to accommodation, supports for education and an aftercare worker. Even Tusla says it sees very vulnerable 17-year-olds for whom turning 18 is like a cliff edge. They go off into the general homeless services if they get status or they go into the direct provision system. We would like to see the law change in this regard.