There were nearly 300 reports of children in State care going missing from residential care homes last year, according to new figures from Tusla, the State child and family agency.
The number of times children were reported missing from residential care homes fell from 319 reports in 2020 to 295 last year. In most cases the young people returned to the residential facilities or were found less than 24 hours after being reported missing.
There have been 236 cases of children in residential care being reported missing by staff up to the start of September this year.
The figures were released by the Department of Children in response to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward.
In total there have been more than 1,500 reports of children missing from State residential care since 2018. The number of reports has declined in recent years, down from 366 in 2019.
The figures only relate to cases of young people found to be missing from residential care, and do not include cases where children in foster care were reported missing.
In response to the figures, Tusla said the reports could relate to cases where children were missing for a period of more than 20 minutes.
“It is important to note that generally most of the incidents/reports are for children missing for less than 24 hours,” the agency said. There had only been a small number of cases where children remained “absent for a longer period,” officials said. In all of the cases covered by the figures the children had been returned to the care of Tusla.
Commenting on the figures, Mr Ward said the high number of missing children reports each year was “concerning”. The Dublin Mid-West TD said he believed the volume of cases “shows there’s gaps in the system somewhere”.
He said there needed to be tighter safeguards in place in residential homes, as well as less turnover of staff. He also criticised the fact some children in care were still being housed in inappropriate accommodation, such as hotels. “That’s not good enough, we have to look after our most vulnerable children,” he said.
Mr Ward said in some cases young people in care may have complex needs, which could be a “contributing factor” to instances where they went missing from their housing.
One source working in residential care services said at times missing children reports would be made if young people did not return home by a set curfew, and in some cases they would then arrive at the centre minutes after reports had been filed. The source said some individual young people would be responsible for large numbers of missing children reports to Tusla.
