Some of the most vulnerable children in Irish society are left without school placements despite the State being their parent, writes Tara Ćirić of MU's Department of Education. 

    Children living in residential units under Tusla Child and Family Agency hold the same constitutional rights to education as all Irish children.

    But somehow, there is zero policy from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth or the Department of Education concerning the education of children in care.

    The outcomes of their education, such as graduation or Leaving Cert completion, is not even tracked. The consequences mirror Tusla's self-described state: crisis. In 2023, the Central Statistics Office published a report showing that only 40% of children in care were enrolled in post-primary education in 2021/2022. The newly-defunded judiciary watchdog, the Child Law Project, has described a judge 'in despair’ at the state of the care system. And education is just the tip of the iceberg.

    So, what happens when the State is your parent, and the State system built to care for you is in freefall? According to the most up-to-date data from August 2024, 402 children in Ireland are living in residential care, homes that are staffed on a 24-hour basis by social care workers. However, Tusla relies heavily on a collapsing voluntary sector and an unregulated private sector, which currently houses 302 children, as they have been consistently unable to meet the demand for placements for years.

    But what does this mean for the education of children in their care? All children in Tusla’s residential care units must have a written care plan, which includes provisions for education. An allocated social worker is responsible for finding a school placement and appropriate provisions for each child’s needs. However, almost 10% don’t have a written care plan. As is clear from field research and interviews, social workers are often unaware of the rules and regulations around primary and post-primary admissions policies.

    Due to the chronic lack of placements in residential units, children in need of residential care frequently move from unit to unit, or are placed in Special Emergency Accommodations (SEAs) such as unregulated hotels and or B&Bs. One 14-year-old girl I spoke to during field research told me she was moved up and down the country at least five times in eight months and received no schooling during that time: "I was just tossed around". This means that social workers often focus on the stability of a child’s placement rather than education. "Education falls down the pecking order," said one Tusla employee.

    So, what happens when they get to school? Because there is no provision or policy for children in care, there is no guidance as to how teachers can support them in school. In our education system, assessments for disabilities, mental health or learning difficulties are the key to accessing additional support in schools. But, as all families know, the wait times for evaluations from NEPS or CAMHS can be excruciating.

    The same goes for children in residential care who are more likely to be enrolled in special schools or be in special classes than their peers. The difference is children in residential care have no parent to advocate for them. What we are left with is some of the most vulnerable children in Irish society without school placements and without additional support, and who are seemingly invisible within the State, despite the State being their parent.

    How did this happen? No policy, no practice guidelines for schools, no special provision or tracking. One TD I spoke to linked it to Ireland’s history of institutional abuse, saying: "We have not learned… we continue to fail our children." A member of a national advocacy group cited a lack of joined up thinking within government: "Our system has developed in such a way that there’s separation between all the departments, and where we have deliberately avoided trying to make it any closer."

    When I reached out to policy makers within the Department of Education for interview, some told me the education of children in care was not their responsibility and I should stick to the Department of Children. Members of the Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth admitted to me in research interviews that they had never discussed the education of children in care. There is no record that members of the Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science had broached the subject either.

    A lack of political will might be another problem according to one senator, who said: "The kids are invisible to many people… and also people being a bit complacent". Again and again, in conversation, policy makers and civil servants pointed to the small numbers of children in residential care to explain the gap they fell through. But some pushed back: "It’s so small… well then there’s no real excuse for you to not be addressing it." An advocate stated it more plainly, saying: "There’s a paralysis at the moment [in government] around trying to do something new." Indeed, multiple reports across departments and universities have cited this gap for years yet these children remain invisible in the gap between education and care.

    So what can we do? One TD says: "Public embarrassment is often the biggest motivator in politics". It’s time for us to be collectively embarrassed at the state of the care system in Ireland, and the invisibility of children in care from our policy. It’s time for the next election cycle to focus on the most vulnerable children in our society and uphold their constitutional right to an education.

    This piece originally appeared on RTÉ Brainstorm