Custody of toddler sought by asylum seeker

An asylum seeker has applied to regain custody of a toddler whom she claims is her daughter, after the child was placed in State care immediately after they arrived in Ireland.

The Family Court in Dublin heard that the woman travelled from Africa and arrived at Dublin Airport shortly after Christmas.

She informed a member of the Garda National Immigration Bureau that she wished to apply for asylum.

The woman was travelling with a toddler, as well as two older children.

She informed the bureau officer that the two older children were not her own and that they belonged to another woman already living in Ireland.

Contact was made with the mother of these two older children, and they have since been reunited with her.

However, the woman was only able to produce a birth certificate for herself, and was unable to produce documentation in relation to the young girl.

On the basis of this, the bureau officer invoked section 12 of the Child Protection Act 1991, which gives gardaí the power to place a child into the care of the State. The garda told the court that, through his observations, the woman and the toddler appeared to have a bond, and to be mother and daughter.

Affectionate bond

He said that as he was fingerprinting the woman, the child was holding on to the woman affectionately, and the woman was telling the girl to be good.

“There was the normal interaction between mother and daughter,” the garda said.

However, he said his concerns for the welfare of the child were based on the fact that the woman had no documents for her.

The child and family agency, Tusla, applied on Wednesday for an interim care order, which would allow for the young girl to remain in the care of the State until the results of a DNA test were known. These are expected within a few days.

A social worker from Tusla said the woman told her she was fleeing an abusive relationship, and that people she knew arranged for her to come to Ireland.

The woman told the court she and her daughter travelled to Ireland on passports that were not their own but that she had to give these back to a smuggler on the airplane before they landed in Dublin. She said she did not know she would have to give the passports back before arriving.

She said she “would do anything” to have her daughter with her. The court heard the woman has not had access to the girl since their arrival in Ireland.

The judge granted an interim care order, which is to remain in place until the end of this week. He directed that the woman have access to the child and that a formal observation between herself and the child be conducted before then.