Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 219: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the steps her Department will take on the continuing issue of 278 separated children who entered the country as unaccompanied minors and who have gone missing while under the care of the Health Service Executive; her views on whether the human rights of these children have not been vindicated; and if she is in a position to state that the children involved are not in danger of involvement in circumstances such as the abuses associated with human trafficking. [17881/08]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Separated children seeking asylum going missing from care is not a phenomenon unique to Ireland. Evidence from other countries indicates this is a substantial problem.

Most of the unaccompanied minors in Ireland are placed in the care of the Health Service Executive under the Child Care Act, 1991. My Department has asked the HSE to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and welfare of these young people. The HSE has assured my Department that all possible steps are taken to protect these children within the resources available. The 2001 "Policy on Absence without Leave" is being followed in respect of these children. Each child who goes missing is reported, (on an agreed template with photograph and physical description), to the following: Local Garda Station; Garda National Immigration Bureau; Child Care Manager (for circulation throughout the country); Supt. Community Welfare Officer, Asylum Seekers Unit (for flagging on the National Social Welfare record system); Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (for circulation to other relevant asylum process agencies); and Local services notified.

New national protocols regarding missing children are currently being drafted and will be finalised shortly. The HSE are in consultation with the Garda Missing Persons Bureau on this matter.

The HSE are devising a National Policy, including an operational policy, for separated children. This is being finalised and it is understood to include the principle that all children in the care of the HSE should receive the same standard of care whether they be separated children seeking asylum or indigenous children in care. The policy will also reflect the principle of good practice that younger children under 12 should be placed in foster care with older less vulnerable young people placed in residential care as appropriate. The implementation of such a policy through the enhanced level of care should have a significant impact on the numbers of such young people going missing from the care of the HSE.