Tusla, the child and family agency, is conducting a review into its management and the reporting of concerns about the sexual exploitation of vulnerable teenagers in State care.
Research published earlier this year raised “grave concern” about girls in care being targeted by co-ordinated “gangs” of predatory men.
The scoping study, conducted by University College Dublin’s sexual exploitation research programme, involved interviews with staff and other stakeholders who work with children in the care of Tusla.
The research detailed instances of girls being regularly 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 or given gifts.
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Kate Duggan, Tusla’s interim chief executive, will on Wednesday tell politicians that the agency is “acutely aware” of the “increased risk” of children and teenagers in its care to exploitation.
[ Nearly 4,000 cases of suspected child abuse referred to gardaí by TuslaOpens in new window ]
On foot of the study, Ms Duggan is to outline how the agency is “conducting an internal review of the reporting and process management of concerns regarding child sexual exploitation”.
She will state that officials had sought confirmation that the concerns raised about instances of exploitation, as expressed to the UCD researchers in interviews, had also been reported to authorities.
Ms Duggan is due to appear before the Oireachtas committee on children, along with Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman and officials from his department.
Mr O’Gorman is expected to say that he found the details of the exploitation of children in care, as set out in the recent research, “unsettling” and “very concerning”.
Tusla is currently facing huge pressures from an increase in reports of abuse or neglect of children, a shortage of foster and residential placements for children taken into care, and a lack of social workers, Ms Duggan will say in her opening statement.
The agency is also dealing with a sharp rise in the numbers of underage asylum seekers, arriving in the State from Ukraine and elsewhere without guardians, who need to be taken into care.
Ms Duggan will explain how Tusla is having difficulty finding a suitable placement with a foster carer, or in a group care home, for a “small number of young people”.
[ Internal report criticises Tusla care of unaccompanied child refugeesOpens in new window ]
[ Concerns raised over unaccompanied minors missing from Tusla’s careOpens in new window ]
As a result, the agency has had to rely on “special emergency arrangements” such as hotels, bed and breakfasts or short-term rental properties to accommodate young people being taken into care. There were 155 young people in these emergency arrangements in July, Tusla says.
Ms Duggan is to state that this problem is not down to a lack of funding, but “due to an inability to provide a more appropriate or long-term placement, often due to the complex needs of the young person”.
Mr O’Gorman is to tell the committee that Tusla has come under “significant pressure” since last year, resulting in challenges finding “suitable” accommodation for children in care.
His opening statement outlines that he is aware of concerns about the use of special emergency arrangements and that the safety of children in care was a “priority” for his department and Tusla.
