Many children separated from their parents and seeking asylum in Ireland are housed in hostels with no care staff after 5pm, a report from the Ombudsman for Children has found.
Separated children living in Ireland found 118 children living in seven unregistered hostels had no access to care staff after 5pm. In one hostel, housing seven teenage boys, no qualified care staff were present at all.
The report found the centres did not meet the standards stipulated in the Child Care Act 1991 and other child protection legislation and were not subject to examination by the Health and Information Quality Authority (Hiqa).
There was a stark difference between registered residential care centres and the hostels, the report found.
"The registered residential centres are all houses, run by care staff, with recreation space outside," it said. "In contrast, many of the unregistered hostel accommodation centres had around 30 children living in them. The hostel manager who is in the hostel during the day is not a qualified care worker."
While on occasion the managers appear to go beyond their contractual obligations in terms of supporting the young people, that was down to the good will of the individual as opposed to a responsibility, the report said.
Many of the hostel managers were concerned at some of the legal guardian type issues they were asked or obliged to deal with, given that they are not the legal guardian of any of the young people.
Some 419 separated children were found to have gone missing from State accommodation in the last 10 years.
Ombudsman for Children Emily Logan said the care provided in unregistered hostels was inferior to that provided to Irish children in residential care.
"Separated children are entitled to the same treatment and rights as nationals or resident children," she said.
They should be treated as children first and foremost. All considerations of their immigration status should be secondary."
She said the 175 separated children currently in the Irish care system may be seeking asylum because of fear of persecution or the lack of protection due to human rights violations, armed conflict or disturbances in their own country. They may have been victims of trafficking for sexual or other exploitation, or they may have travelled to Europe to escape conditions of serious deprivation.
She noted that since the report was finalised, the state had stopped placing separated children in hostels and there were moves to relocate children already in hostels to more suitable accommodation.
"However, there are still young people living in uninspected, private hostels and the asylum process remains what the young people have described as very stressful and not particularly child friendly, or indeed sensitive to their unique situation," she said.
