Internal report criticises Tusla care of unaccompanied child refugees

There is a lack of oversight in Tusla’s management of reports to gardaí of suspected abuse of unaccompanied minors in State care from Ukraine and other countries seeking asylum, an internal report has found.

The State’s child protection agency could not be assured it was notifying gardaí “in a timely manner” of suspected sexual or physical abuse of underage refugees and asylum seekers in its care, the report said.

Tusla is responsible for caring for underage asylum seekers who arrive in the country without guardians, with the service under serious strain since last year.

An internal report, dated March 22nd, 2023, raised concerns about the handling of cases of suspected abuse of unaccompanied minors.

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Tusla had made 10 referrals to gardaí concerning separated children in its care in the previous year. However, there were “no systems” in place to oversee how the service was managing the reports.

There are currently 280 unaccompanied minors in Tusla’s care, a significant number of that cohort being young Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion last year.

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The review, released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, found immediate improvements were needed to address “the current and future risks to the safe operation” of Tusla’s service for separated children.

It said Tusla staff were “not supported to deliver a safe, sustainable service”, while separated children in State care were “not being seen regularly”, due to “staffing capacity issues”.

The report raised concerns about whether child protection concerns reported to Tusla about unaccompanied minors were being screened correctly and without delay.

“There is no management system in place to effectively record, monitor and oversee child protection referrals made to the service,” the report said.

These shortcomings posed “significant risks” to Tusla, with the report blaming “insufficient resourcing” and a lack of planning about how to meet the increased demands the service had come under.

At the time of the review, there were 206 unaccompanied minors in Tusla’s care, some as young as 10, including 78 children from Ukraine, 53 from Afghanistan and 46 from Somalia.

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The report warned that expected continued numbers of separated children seeking asylum in Ireland “may place further strain” on the service’s limited resources.

The internal Tusla review team said it was not assured children were receiving “timely” follow-ups from social workers, which meant the agency could not be confident that safeguarding measures or other supports were in place.

It recommended Tusla conduct an “immediate” high-level review to reform the service for unaccompanied minors seeking asylum.

Governance standards required improvement and there was a lack of clear systems to review “the effectiveness and safety of child protection and welfare service provision”, it said.

The report also said a facility currently being used by the service posed a potentially “significant risk” to staff and young people, due to a “lack of privacy” when accessing its toilet facilities.

The Health Information and Quality Authority, the State’s healthcare watchdog, raised concerns earlier this year about the oversight of the service for separated children.

A spokeswoman for Tusla said a “rapid service improvement group” had been set up to address the challenges facing the service, which had come under recent pressure.

“Tusla remains committed to playing our part in the State’s response to those seeking international protection… We are endeavouring to meet the relevant standards and ensure we provide a safe, consistent service to children requiring our assistance,” she said.