Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ms Charles provided a great deal of information, much of which relates to softer interactions or the communications side, as opposed to hard data. I am surprised that some information on best practice, even unofficial or informal, is not provided for foster families, for example, booklets or brochures for households that foster children or information on "dos and don'ts" or what can or cannot be done. I ask the witnesses to excuse my ignorance if I am using the wrong terminology. Do private organisations provide such information?

Ms Charles stated that fostering a child costs on average €58,000 per annum when done through a private foster care organisation and €17,000 when done through a foster carer registered directly with Tusla. Do the private organisations operate a business model that provides, for want of a better term, a five star service when compared with the benchmark?

Different models of parenting apply. Some parents will shelter children more, while others will take a much more liberal approach. Where does Ms Charles find the dividing line?

From listening to Ms Charles, there does not appear to be hard data or research on the reasons children move into foster care in the first place. What are the triggers and issues? What are the specific reasons? Are they drug and alcohol addiction, physical and emotional abuse or a combination of factors? Are there any data available on this issue? From my work in mental health, I know we are struggling for data and we need to put some analytics behind it.

Ms Charles spoke about matching children with the needs of a foster parent. This reminds me of my work as a recruiter for eight years. We used to refer to matching as introducing people to people to see who fits with whom and with what job. Is there any kind of due diligence around that? Are there any contingency criteria that would best match this or is the system struggling for numbers and trying to find the best place for the child, as opposed to finding the five star treatment, to which I referred, in other words, an exact match? In other areas, one will always find a 70% or 80% match in terms of culture but obviously when two bodies come together they grow into a new culture.