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Chichi Okoli: ‘I have a major issue with the care system.’ Picture: Brendan Gleeson<\/p>\nOluchi Blessing Okoli, also known as Chichi, has spent her entire life in Ireland.<\/p>\n
Born in Dublin, raised across Portlaoise, Sligo, and Limerick, she speaks like any other 21-year-old student at the University of Limerick, where she studies sociology and French.<\/p>\n
Her life is here: her education, her friendships, her ambitions. But legally, she is still waiting to be recognised.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 21 years old,\u201d she told the Irish Examiner, \u201cand I still don\u2019t have Irish citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her voice is calm, but the frustration sits just beneath the surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re telling me: \u2018You\u2019re not an Irish citizen, and you won\u2019t be until we approve it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has been waiting four years.<\/p>\n
Chichi\u2019s story begins, like many others, with a parent who came to Ireland looking for a better life.<\/p>\n
Her mother moved from South
Africa and raised her three children alone here, leaving one sibling back home.<\/p>\n
Chichi\u2019s knows who her father is, but has never met him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have spoken on the phone, but I\u2019ve never met him,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
When her mother became seriously ill, everything changed.<\/p>\n
Chichi was just 16 when she died.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the age I lost her,\u201d she said. \u201cI was grieving, dealing with school, dealing with everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foster care<\/p>\n
She and her siblings were taken into foster care. From that point on, the State became responsible not just for her welfare, but, she argues, for her future, including something as fundamental as citizenship.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother was supposed to apply for citizenship for us when I was a child,\u201d she says. \u201cBut she was sick, and then she passed away. And now I\u2019m the one being punished for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The roots of Chichi\u2019s situation lies in the 27th Amendment of the Constitution, which in 2004 ended automatic birthright citizenship in Ireland. It targeted a perceived loophole in citizenship law to bring Ireland in line with other European nations that do not grant automatic birthright citizenship.<\/p>\n
It amended Article 9 of the Constitution, which allowed the Oireachtas to pass the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2005, governing citizenship.<\/p>\n
Chichi Okoli: ‘I have a major issue with the care system.’ Picture: Brendan Gleeson<\/p>\n
Under the current system, being born in Ireland is not enough. Citizenship depends on the legal status or residency history of a parent.<\/p>\n
For Chichi, that technicality has become a defining barrier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re telling me to explain why my mother didn\u2019t apply when I was three years told,\u201d she says. \u201cBut she\u2019s not here anymore. I don\u2019t have that answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
What she does have is a system that, in her view, has failed to account for children like her, children who had no control over their circumstances.<\/p>\n
\n How am I still trying to prove that I belong here? I\u2019ve lived here my whole life.\n <\/p>\n
After her mother\u2019s death, Chichi entered a system she now hopes to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is broken, has huge holes in it, and it\u2019s not right for kids. I have a major issue with the care system.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was in care during her teenage years, moving through placements before eventually transitioning into aftercare support with Tusla.<\/p>\n
The system provides supports for young people leaving state care from 18 to 21 or up to 23 years old if in education, and will assist with independent living, and is serviced by Tusla.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there are people in the system doing their best,\u201d she said. \u201cBut structurally, there\u2019s a lot wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of her biggest concerns is what she describes as a lack of co-ordination between agencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a disconnect between Tusla, the Department of Justice, and the Government,\u201d Chichi explains.<\/p>\n
\n Tusla don\u2019t have the information. They don\u2019t know how to navigate citizenship issues. So they tell you to start from scratch, and that is how we all get lost and keep going around in circles\n <\/p>\n
In her case, she believes Tusla should have taken a more active role while she was still a minor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were the responsible body,\u201d she said. \u201cIf a child doesn\u2019t have parents who can apply for them, then who is supposed to do it? Everyone is blaming my mother for not applying for my citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Young people are left to deal with complex legal processes on their own, often only after turning 18. \u201cYou\u2019re expected to figure it out yourself, and then wait years for a decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
At one point, Chichi was asked to provide documentation from her father as part of her application for citizenship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey wanted his permission,\u201d she says. \u201cEven though he\u2019s never been in my life, I have never met him. Seriously though, how does that make sense?\u201d<\/p>\n
She laughs at the idea, but adds that it is one of several moments where the system seems designed for a \u201cnormal\u201d family structure, one that doesn\u2019t reflect the realities of many children in care.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t fit that, you fall through the cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her experience in care has also shaped her understanding of inequality within the system, particularly for black children.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lack of cultural understanding,\u201d she said. \u201cSimple things like hair care, or skin conditions. I had eczema. That was left up to me to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n
These may seem small, she says, but they are part of a broader pattern.<\/p>\n
\n You\u2019re already dealing with trauma, grief, instability. And then you\u2019re not even being fully supported in basic ways.\n <\/p>\n
The system offers support, but only under certain conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe support is there if you go into education,\u201d she explains. \u201cIf you don\u2019t, you\u2019re basically on your own.\u201d<\/p>\n
That binary choice, education or no support, creates pressure at a critical moment in young people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re 17 or 18, you\u2019re finishing your Leaving Cert, you\u2019re grieving, you\u2019re dealing with everything \u2014 and then you\u2019re told, these are your two options.\u201d<\/p>\n
She chose education, but she is clear that not everyone can.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everybody is academic,\u201d she explains. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t deserve support. Some people don\u2019t have a clue what they want to do in life until they are 40.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without education, many young people who are leaving care struggle to cope.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re just dropped into the adult world,\u201d she said, \u201cNo real safety net.\u201d<\/p>\n
Work goals<\/p>\n
Despite everything, Chichi is focused on what comes next.<\/p>\n
Her studies in sociology are driven by experience. Her goal is to work in policy, and eventually, she hopes, to establish a not-for-profit organisation supporting young people in care.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to reform the system,\u201d she said. \u201cEven though I am not a fan of it, the only way to change it is to get in there, I want to research it, understand it, and change it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her motivation is simple: \u201cI\u2019ve lived it. I know what needs to be different.\u201d<\/p>\n
That includes citizenship. She
believes the State needs to take responsibility for the unintended consequences of its own policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they brought in that law, did they think about people like me?\u201d she asked. \u201cDid they think about the children who would fall through the cracks?\u201d<\/p>\n
The word she returns to, again and again, is \u201climbo\u201d. \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting four years,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
During that time, she has gone to university, built a future, and continued to advocate for herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a life to live,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the uncertainty remains.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re delaying applications. They\u2019re blocking progress,\u201d she said. \u201cIt affects everything. And it is in the hands of the Department of Justice, and for children under 18, Tusla, but they didn\u2019t do it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her frustration is not just personal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many people in worse situations than me,\u201d she said. \u201cI can\u2019t even imagine what they\u2019re going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Chichi, this is about more than paperwork.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was born here. I was raised here. I\u2019ve never left,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd still, I have to fight to prove that I belong, so tell me something, how is that fair?\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Department of Justice said it cannot comment on individual cases but outlined pathways towards citizenship.<\/p>\n
A statement from Tusla said: \u201cUp to October 2023, applications for naturalisation on behalf of a minor were required to be made by a parent or legal guardian.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn October 2023, the Department of Justice issued updated guidance confirming that, in certain circumstances, applications made by Tusla on behalf of a child in its care may be considered and processed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis applies where the specific additional documentation set out in the department\u2019s guidance is provided, including a court direction confirming, among other things, that \u2018Tusla is in loco parentis to the child sufficient for the purpose of making an application for citizenship\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oluchi Blessing Okoli, also known as Chichi, has spent her entire life in Ireland. Born in Dublin, raised…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11246,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-442656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-childrens-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}