Dublin District Court granted an interim care order (ICO) for a non-national child who was suspected of having been trafficked to Ireland and involved in the sex trade.
The Child and Family Agency applied for the ICO after an emergency care order (ECO) had been granted as a result of a referral made to the gardai by a passer-by who had found the child on the street, extremely distressed and very unwell.
The social worker said that the child had been living in Ireland for approximately one year but had no English. The child told the social worker that she never knew her parents. She was raised by her grandparents, but her grandfather died in 2021 and her grandmother in 2023. The child was homeless after her grandmother died. A family had then said that they would take care of her and give her a good life, but they later sold her to a man who brought her to Ireland. The child had been trafficked for sex and suffered physical and sexual abuse.
Despite the child saying that she had been homeless for the past year and sleeping rough, the gardai said that she did not look like she was sleeping on the streets for a year as she was tidy, though very unwell. She had no contacts in Ireland and did not have the contact details for the man who had brought her to Ireland.
The child had said that she would go to restaurants and other businesses run by her compatriots and ask for help and that sometimes they would give her a place to sleep for the night. The social worker said that the child had arrived with just the clothes on her back and was particularly vulnerable. Even though she had been in Ireland for the past year she had no English at all. Also, she had limited education as she had only completed three years of education in her home country because her grandparents could not afford education. After she had been taken out of school, she had helped her grandparents sell merchandise on the streets.
The child had been brought to a doctor and prescribed antibiotics, after which she would be tested for sexually transmitted diseases. The social worker said that the child had become very distressed when she disclosed sensitive information, however she was open about what had happened to her. The social worker said that there were no concerns relating to the child’s age except that she was a particularly vulnerable child who would age out the next year.
The child had been placed in a high need placement specifically for unaccompanied minors. A guardian ad litem (GAL) was appointed for the child and she was scheduled to attend a specialist interview with the gardai. The placement had identified an English language school that offered daily English language classes which would be more useful to the child than classes held only a couple of times a week.
The court granted the interim care order. The judge noted that the child had no guardian to care for her and that the English language, education and integration would be a challenge for her.