Ms Michele Clarke:

The key issue to bear in mind when the cost of private care is compared with the cost of Tusla care is that the Tusla cost does not include costs associated with social workers' time and salaries, assessments, link workers and supports to families. By comparison, the private companies' costs cover everything they provide. For that reason, it can appear that private care costs much more than Tusla care. In fact, that ratio would not be correct. I should also mention that Tusla sometimes identifies private foster care as an appropriate placement for a child with very special needs. In some cases, companies are able to surround some children with supports that might not be available to those children in the general population of foster care. There is no doubt that private care has also been used when shortages have emerged. The social workers who are being recruited will not all be sent into child protection, as some of them will go into backfilling the foster care teams that have become depleted. This will allow Tusla to recruit, train and support its own foster carers. That is part of Tusla's plan.