The Ombudsman for Children has called for a full independent assessment of the Government’s homeless Family Hubs.
It comes after children compared living in the hubs to living in prison.
The ombudsman’s office spoke to 80 children living in family hubs in Dublin, Cork and Limerick for the ‘No Place like Home’ report.
Children aged from 5 to 17-years-old praised staff and efforts to provide facilities for them – but raised concern about space, privacy, noise and not being able to have visitors.
The report heard from nine-year-old Lena, who said she has to read in the toilet after her sister goes to sleep – and from seven-year-old Chloe who said she feels sleepy in school due to the noise at night.
16-year-old Thomas said he does not tell people he lives at one of the hubs as, “it’s embarrassing. It’s horrible, it’s not nice.”
During #YourOCO’s consultation with children living in Family Hubs failure, embarrassment and shame were common words spoken/expressed by the young people and their families. Listen to one person’s account below👇. (Spoken by an Actor) #NoPlaceLikeHome pic.twitter.com/SodctBAQGx
— Ombudsman for Children (@OCO_ireland) April 18, 2019
Children’s Ombudsman Dr Niall Muldoon said it is now time to carry out an independent formal evaluation of the family hub system to establish how they should be used into the future.
He also called for an express right to housing to be enshrined in the Constitution.
He said there should be a statutory time limit for how long families are placed in the hubs – and for standards at the facilities to be independently regulated.
Today #YourOCO launches ’No Place Like Home’ a report on children’s views and experiences of living in Family Hubs. Over the course of today, we will upload short videos relaying the words of the young people. For now, read the report in full 👉 https://t.co/EVYzGIfLmT pic.twitter.com/YzNeAZLQCo
— Ombudsman for Children (@OCO_ireland) April 18, 2019
Dr Muldoon said the children find themselves growing up in a “very unnatural family environment.”
“They talk about the noise that happens between families across the accommodation, where people might be arguing or fighting,” he said.
“Children are very concerned about that.
“They also talk about the lack of privacy – you can imagine a family of four living in one room.”
He said the State can no longer “allow our children to live with overwhelming feelings of shame, guilt and anger because they are homeless, through no fault of their own.”
