Staff 'scrambling' to keep children in State care safe from sexual exploitation
A Child Being Current Exploitation Review Care Undertaken Is Currently Concerns Of Sexual In Tusla Residential By
Staff are “scrambling” to keep safe some children suspected of being criminally sexually exploited, according to the latest volume of reports of cases relating to children in State care.
The latest batch of reports published by the Child Law Project includes a number of cases where children were suspected of being sexually exploited or being used for criminal purposes.
They included:
- An unaccompanied minor who told her guardian ad litem (appointed by the court to represent the interests of a child in legal proceedings) that she has been exploited by a man who had brought her to Ireland and “she had been engaged in sexual acts with him and other men” in her home country. During a court hearing regarding an application for the teen to return briefly to her home country to visit her dying mother, her guardian ad litem said the man who brought her to Ireland was in custody in connection with an assault of her foster carer, and was being investigated in relation to allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation;
- A 17-year-old girl who was the subject of an application to extend an interim care order was feared to be providing sexual images of herself in return “for money from a variety of men, understood to not be boyfriends”. The solicitor for the girl’s guardian ad litem outlined in a court hearing that the girl felt she was the one to blame. The court heard that between 20 and 30 men were believed to be involved but the Garda in the case said “it could be more as she had been using Snapchat and Instagram”.
- A teenager, who had the cognitive ability of a 10-year-old, had been raped while in the care of Tusla, with belief that the teenager was being sexually trafficked throughout the country. On one occasion, she phoned her guardian ad litem at 11pm saying she did not know where she was and that she was cold and hungry. She was located in a city, two hours away from her placement. Her guardian ad litem said that there had been two or three episodes where she had been collected by males. There had been disclosures of abuse made in her previous foster home. The Tusla social worker also acknowledged that the girl had received threats to her life.
Chief executive of the Child Law Project, Dr Maria Corbett, said the issue of exploitation of children in State care is particularly concerning, noting that there are a number of such cases “and the level of support in their current care placement was not sufficient to stabilise them and address these risks”.
She added: “For some, as their case returned to court for review, the situation deteriorated and became very bleak, with staff scrambling to keep the child safe.”
She said children in the “care population” have extra vulnerability and she added: “We really are asking the question do we have sufficient responses to concern about sexual exploitation?
"At the moment in our residential care settings, we need to re-look at that.”
Last year, a report published by the Sexual Exploitation Research Programme at University College Dublin highlighted that children and young people, particularly girls, in residential care or who go missing while in State care, are being targeted for sexual exploitation in an organised manner by coordinated networks, or gangs, of predatory men.
A review is currently being undertaken by Tusla of current child sexual exploitation concerns in residential care.