ESRI report highlights improvement in care of young unaccompanied immigrants
There have been significant improvements in the care of unaccompanied minors who come to Ireland, according to the ESRI.
The new report published by the ESRI this morning shows that since the hostel-based system was replaced with more targetted care, far fewer unaccompanied minors have gone missing.
Most come to Ireland fleeing conflict and some have been separated from their parents on their journey here.
The majority are from African countries including Nigeria, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Emma Quinn, one of the authors of the report, says there have been major improvements in the care of unaccompanied minors since 2010.
Ms Quinn said: "In the previous hostel-based system, the children were relatively poorly supervised and large numbers of children were going missing, and this has been significantly improved on.
"In 2007, there were 41 such children that went missing, 12 of whom were found. This compares to four children going missing in 2013, two of which were found."
