Five children have “gone missing” while in childcare so far in 2019.
It has been almost a month since RTE aired a documentary on childcare facility Hyde & Seek, and the repercussions are still being felt.
The child and family agency Tusla released figures for 2019, under the Freedom of Information Act, and revealed that it has received 116 reports of children being seriously injured while in pre-school so far in 2019 alone.
This figure is up 35% from the 86 serious injuries reported in 2018 in the same time period.
Newstalk also reported that the agency was also notified of the deaths of two children attending Early Years Services over the same time period.
Additionally, five children are reported to have gone missing while under the watch of childcare services.
Barnardos CEO Suzanne Connolly told Newstalk that this was a huge concern:
“The sort of times that a child may go missing, if staff aren’t paying due attention, is at transition times,” she said.
“So say, for example, when it is very busy in the morning and all of the parents are dropping their children off. If staff are not paying attention, with parents, a child may well wander off.”
Tusla stated that a child can only go missing in care if there has been a serious breach of regulations, with cases ranging from a child ‘missing’ from a room in a service, to being left behind on a trip – but said it cannot report on specific cases.
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