Vulnerable Ukrainian child groomed and trafficked into Ireland
Tusla tried to ring the girl’s family using numbers in the child’s phone, but was unsuccessful. It was understood her mother and grandmother were in two different EU countries.
A teenage girl from Ukraine has had to be taken into emergency care amid fears she had been trafficked here after being groomed in her home country.
The case of the girl, who authorities believe may have an intellectual disability, comes amid heightened concerns of Ukrainian children being trafficked into Ireland as the war there continues. Tusla has admitted it is under pressure due to the number of unaccompanied minors arriving here.
The girl's case study is among of a batch of cases highlighted by the Child Law Project, which reports on family law cases, often involving neglect and abuse.
The District Court made an emergency care order in respect of the unaccompanied girl who arrived here from the Ukraine in the company of a man. A social worker told the court the child presented at the Ukrainian centre at the airport with no identification.
She was interviewed by a social worker and initially said the man was her uncle, then her cousin. It later emerged he is not related to her at all. The girl told authorities she met him in school and had known him for four years, that he bought her nice things and that her parents didn’t look after her.
Tusla tried to ring the girl’s family using numbers in the child’s phone, but was unsuccessful. It was understood her mother and grandmother were in two different EU countries.
One of the people contacted, the mother’s former partner, told Tusla the man the girl was with was not a good man and that she should be taken away from him. The man was arrested and interviewed by the gardai but was later released without charge and his whereabouts were currently unknown.
According to the report, the court was told the girl asked repeatedly to speak with the man and said that she wanted to speak to him about "a lady issue". The court was told that she presented as a very vulnerable person and while she said she was 17 and provided a passport, the social worker told the court that she presented as much younger.
The girl said she attended a special school in the Ukraine and that her stepfather drank vodka all of the time.
Tusla has said it is dealing with an "unprecedented" situation regarding unaccompanied children arriving here, not just from Ukraine. Of the 386 such referrals Tusla has received since the start of the year, 113 were from Ukraine, 62 of whom are in the care system.
Executive Director of the Child Law Project, Dr Carol Coulter, said: “While the majority of Ukrainians arriving into Ireland are coming as family groups, there are a small number of separated children arriving on their own.
"With such a large and chaotic movement of people across borders, trafficking and exploitation can arise. The Child and Family Agency is to be commended for its efforts to safeguard this child.”
Claims around the man were subsequently disputed by gardaí.
