30 children remain missing from Tusla care, latest figures show

Michael Bolton

There were 42 children missing under the care of Tusla on March 26th this year.

Figures released to BreakingNews.ie show 27 children were categorised as Separated Children Seeking International Protection (SCSIP). The other 15 children were part of the so-called Mainstream in Contact.

Of 28 children missing for over two weeks, 20 went missing in 2025, and five young people went missing in 2024.

Children reported missing fall into two categories: the number of missing children in the mainstream care population and Separated Children Seeking International Protection (SCSIP).

On January 1st this year, there were 41 children missing while under Tusla's care. Of these, 29 children were missing under SCSIP, while 12 were missing under mainstream.

The most recent check by Tusla shows 30 children missing under their care on May 7th, of whom 23 children were missing under SCSIP, and 22 missing for over two weeks.

Where a child or young person is deemed missing, Tusla maintains active engagement with gardaí.

Once a young person has been reported missing, gardaí have primary responsibility for investigating the young person’s whereabouts. In certain situations, where a child is absent from their care placement for more than 15 minutes, they may be reported as ‘missing’ from care.

This could be for a range of reasons, such as missing their curfew or not returning to their placement at an agreed time.