Research revealing multiple instances of the organised sexual exploitation of teenage girls living in State care by groups of predatory men needed “urgent political attention”, a group working with children in care has said.
Vulnerable girls were being groomed and coerced into sex acts with multiple men, in exchange for goods such as clothes and jewellery, or at the instruction of older men they viewed as their boyfriends.
The study by University College Dublin (UCD) School of Social Policy detailed cases of girls being taken from residential care homes by taxis and brought to hotels, where they were then sexually exploited and abused, often after being supplied with drugs.
The study was based on interviews with staff who work with children in the care of Tusla, the child and family agency, carried out last year.
The findings prompted the researchers to call for an “immediate investigation” into the organised exploitation, to be undertaken by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), who inspect Tusla services.
Most of the 21 staff interviewed for the study had a “strong impression” the exploitation was being carried out by “co-ordinated networks, or gangs, of predatory men”.
Kathleen Funchion, Sinn Féin spokeswoman for children, said she was “alarmed” at the findings and called for the Government “to immediately commission a thorough investigation”.
“Any investigation must include the gardaí, Hiqa and Tulsa, examine the role these agencies play in supporting staff and provide a full picture of the prevalence and extent of this criminal activity,” the TD said.
Responding to the findings, Marissa Ryan, chief executive of Epic, an organisation that advocates for children in care, said the revelations needed “urgent political attention”.
Ms Ryan said it was clear those seeking to exploit children would act on “weaknesses” in the child protection system.
The new research had laid bare “serious inadequacies” in the protection of children living in residential care homes, which needed to be addressed urgently, she said.
“Where the State is acting in loco parentis, it must treat its obligations to these children as seriously as any parent would,” she told The Irish Times.
[ Calls for urgent action on exploitation of girls in care by ‘gangs’ of predatorsOpens in new window ]
Ms Ryan said failures to identify cases of grooming and suspected exploitation of girls in residential care homes were “symptoms of the wider pressure on the care system at present”.
Insufficient numbers of social workers and social care staff often resulted in a reliance on “temporary, inexperienced, agency staff filling gaps”, she said.
While there are about 5,600 children in State care, only about 400 live in group care homes run by either Tusla or contracted providers.
Girls as young as 12 were being exploited by older men they viewed as their boyfriends, who were coercing them into sexual acts with other men, the study found.
Responding to the study, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said his department would immediately “prioritise” a review of the findings and its recommendations.
“No child should be at risk of exploitation and work to raise awareness of and tackle child exploitation is a priority for my department and Tusla,” he said.
Clare Murphy, Tusla interim director of services, said the agency was “acutely aware of and remains concerned about the increased risk of child sexual exploitation of vulnerable children”.
The agency would “carefully review and consider” the study’s findings and recommendations, she said.
A spokesman for Hiqa said the regulator “takes child safeguarding concerns very seriously” and it was considering the contents of the research.
`Horrified’
In response to the findings, Tusla accepted at times it had failed to keep children safe, in part “because of a lack of residential places available” to move a child elsewhere.
Dr Mary Canning, the co-author of the study and academic with the UCD-based sexual exploitation research programme, said she was “horrified” at the findings.
“Children in residential care are very vulnerable because of their life experiences. Predators are very much aware of this,” she said.
The research also showed it was crucial children in care had “continuity” in their social workers so they could build a rapport, rather than having a constant turnover of staff, she said.
Dr Maria Corbett, who heads up the Child Law Project, said cases of exploitation were “very clearly” coming through proceedings it tracked in the courts, where orders were sought to place young people in secure care units for their safety.
One problem facing Tusla was the “great pressure” the residential care system was under at present, she said.
This meant if a young girl was being targeted in one centre, it was not easy to move them to another location to try to disrupt the attempted exploitation, she said.
Speaking in the Dáil on Thursday, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath said the findings of the report would be treated with the “utmost seriousness” by the Government.
The Department of Children would “prioritise” a review of the study and its findings, as would Tusla, to respond to the issue “in the most forceful way we can”, he said.
Mr McGrath said the report was “deeply shocking” and that is was “disturbing to think that there are individual examples of that kind of behaviour and practice happening in Ireland now or in the past”.
The Minister was responding to questions from Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik, who said the study made for “distressing reading”. The fact there was a lack of spaces in care homes to keep children safe was “appalling”, she said.
Mr McGrath added that Tusla had established an anti-trafficking working group ,“in readiness for the Department of Justice national action plan for human trafficking which includes the area of child sexual exploitation. A lot of work has been done but as I said there will now be a focus on the outcome of this study”.
