Ombudsman for Children seeking the views of homeless children

Children’s Ombudsman, Emily Logan, has today (Wednesday) announced that her Office will be seeking the views of homeless children in order to understand their experiences of homelessness and crisis intervention services.

The Ombudsman for Children is requesting that any professionals working with or who know of homeless children who may wish to make their experiences known contact her Office in the coming weeks. The experience of the Office is that professionals can be very powerful advocates for children. 10% to 15% of complainants contacting the Office are professionals on behalf of children they work with.

Emily Logan said: “My job as Ombudsman for Children is about promoting children’s rights and this includes a statutory provision to consult with children on matters that affect them. The critical nature of hearing children’s voices cannot be overemphasised, especially when these children are already marginalised by their circumstances. The Ryan Report and the Roscommon Report detailed graphically the consequences of not listening to vulnerable children.”

Emily Logan added: “Homeless children are extremely vulnerable and generally live very chaotic lives. I am very keen to understand the level of interaction they have with the State and the type and quality of services and supports that that are receiving. My Office understands that these children may find it difficult to seek support or find their way to this Office so we are asking professionals who these children know and trust to assist us in identifying and making contact with them. We will to travel to meet with children at a location where they are most comfortable.”

The consultation with homeless children is part of a wider piece of work undertaken by the Ombudsman for Children’s Office on the provision by the HSE of homelessness and crisis intervention services and children accommodated under Section 5 of the Child Care Act.

The Office has received a number of complaints made directly by or on behalf of young people who were homeless and/or accessing crisis intervention and out-of-hours services. A variety of issues were raised with the Ombudsman for Children’s Office including the experience of one such young person who had spent 10 months in crisis intervention/out-of hours services before turning 18 and could not access any aftercare provision as she had not been formally in the care of the HSE.

While the Ombudsman for Children’s Office has engaged with the HSE on an individual case basis, it was clear that the issues being raised were of a systemic nature.

In March 2011 the Ombudsman for Children intervened and commenced a preliminary examination of systemic issues. In May 2011, she indicated to the HSE her intention to carry out a systemic investigation into the management and governance of the policy and practice in the provision of services to homeless children.

Once the Ombudsman for Children has informed a public body of her intention to investigate an action it is open to any public body, in this case the HSE, to mitigate any adverse effect of their actions on children at any stage of the process.

In response the HSE has outlined a number of immediate policy directives and steps that it intends to advance in order to improve the services it provides to homeless children. The Ombudsman for Children is awaiting outstanding information from the HSE. If she is satisfied that appropriate and timely action is being taken she may hold open the investigation on the basis that the HSE provides quarterly updates on progress.

However, the Ombudsman for Children reserves the right to proceed to investigation at any time if she is not satisfied that adequate improvements have been made. The Ombudsman for Children is satisfied at this stage that the HSE is cooperating fully and has already demonstrated immediate progress in the form of policy directives.

ENDS

For press queries contact: Nikki Gallagher at 01-8656803 or 086-8163246

Professionals working with children in care can contact Karen McAuley, Participation Officer at 01-8656800 or Karen.McAuley@oco.ie

Note to Editors:

• The issue of homeless children has been raised by the Ombudsman for Children domestically in her annual reports to the Oireachtas, internationally with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and more recently with the Human Rights Council. Her concerns have been acknowledged most recently in the stakeholder report published by the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner in Geneva in which it outlines issues to be raised with Government in advance of the State hearing on October 6th.
• The HSE and the Department of Health have adopted the following definition of Youth Homelessness:
  “Those who are sleeping on the streets or in other places not intended for night time accommodation or not providing safe protection from the elements or those whose usual night residence is a public or private shelter, emergency lodging, B&B or such, providing protection from the elements but lacking the other characteristics of a home and/or intended for a short stay.”
• The HSE has an obligation under the Child Care Act 1991 to identify children in need of care and protection and to provide child care and family support services for any such children. If a child is homeless but not already in care, the HSE has an obligation to try to reunite the child with his/her family. They are also authorised to take such a child into care if necessary, but can consider alternative methods of provision for them, including finding suitable non-care accommodation.
• The Ombudsman for Children is the independent, statutory human rights organisation with responsibility for promoting and monitoring children’s rights in Ireland. The powers and authority of the Ombudsman for Children are set out in primary legislation, the Ombudsman for Children Act, 2002.
• The Ombudsman for Children’s role includes monitoring the ongoing use of legislation. Homeless children not formally in the care of the HSE, accommodated under Section 5 of the Child Care Act, also contacted the Office about their difficulties accessing placements and adequate supports for their needs. Because these children were not formally in the care of the HSE, they did not appear to benefit from being part of the ‘through-care’ model of care. Such homeless children are not then subject to regulation, care plans or aftercare provision, and are particularly vulnerable if their relationship with their family has broken down

• 31 August 2011
• Type: Press Release
• Topic: Housing