IRELAND
training offered to social workers and care professionals helped
increase their awareness of the need to include actions to secure
children’s legal status in their care plans as early as possible. The
project also engaged schools and youth groups to share guidance on
migration related matters and assist those in need in gaining legal
advice.
Limited capacity and reach
Lack of access to adequate legal advice and representation increases
vulnerability and results in poor outcomes for undocumented
children. State-provided free legal aid does not currently extend to
general migration matters, or to family reunification applications
for refugees, even where applicants are children. This means that
much of the legal representation in these areas falls to be provid-
ed by solicitors acting pro bono or by organisations such as the
Immigrant Council Independent Law Centre, which has a limited
capacity.
LESSONS LEARNED
• There is a need for a clear, comprehen-
sive legal framework addressing the needs
of undocumented migrant children.
The legal framework should include clear,
child-rights based procedures for conferring
lawful migration status on undocumented
children and their families. Information on
children’s migration rights and obligations
should be readily available, and undocument-
ed children should have access to legal advice
and representation. To inform policy and
practice, further research on the situation of
undocumented migrant children is required.
• Social workers and care professionals
should receive training in migration is-
sues.
To be able to support children and young peo-
ple with migration procedures, social workers
need to be provided with adequate informa-
tion and training. Lack of awareness among
professionals and the failure to address these
issues can have a devastating impact on the
lives of children.
I would like them to give me time and explain to me ‘this
is the process, this is how the process goes, this is what
will happen,… this is the thing in Ireland you need your
status to be able to stay in Ireland… to go to school and
work and stuff’.
Katie Mannion, “Child Migration Matters: Children and Young People’s Ex-
periences of Migration” (Dublin: Immigrant Council of Ireland, 2016), 197.
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