Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The inability to maintain stability and security is used as a euphemism for homelessness when taking the children of homeless parents into care. I am getting information that this is happening in three ways. Orders are being sought by social workers because children are often presenting as frequently ill due to the poor quality of emergency accommodation, lack of routine, bad food, etc. It is also the case that parents feel pressure to voluntarily place their children in care due to the nature of emergency accommodation with drug users and people with addiction issues nearby. Others have had their children forcibly removed as a result of problems stemming from their homeless situation. When I asked the parliamentary question on 31 January, it emerged, amazingly, that Tusla did not keep information on the number of children going into care as a result of homelessness. Tusla seems to keep a lot of information, but not on something like this. The head of Barnardos has said that parents are making the heartbreaking decision to leave their children in care because they are unable to secure appropriate accommodation. It is the biggest child welfare problem we have arising from the homelessness crisis, yet Tusla does not keep any information on the number of parents landing in this situation.

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