Ms Catherine Bond:

Does that answer Deputy Rabbitte's question?

Moving on to the number of visits, the nature of foster care is complex. There are many players on the field. Every child would have a children-in-care social worker, who is a Tusla-designated social worker, and every foster carer is allocated a link social worker. No requirement is set down for the number of visits, for example, that there must be 12 visits per year. In respect of the journey of a placement, if a child is moving into a placement, the initial stages would require high levels of support on the part of the child's social worker with the child and by the link social worker with the foster carer if a foster carer has one. When the placement has settled down, it might go nicely and contact could involve phone calls or visits. It would be very important for the child's social worker to see the child at all times.

It is important for the child's social worker to come into the family home, to see the environment in which the child is living and to have an opportunity to speak to the child and hear his or her views about his or her placement, such as whether he or she is happy and whether his or her access visits with his or her family are frequent enough. Equally, it is important for the foster carer to be able to say how things are. Things could be fine for the moment but, as we know, in family life, we can hit bumps on the road. A child might be having separation or anxiety problems. He or she might be experiencing attachment difficulties and he or she may generally be displaying behaviours. This is, again, when the level of support would need to go up. One is essentially looking at the level of support for the level of need. Generally, when children become very settled in placements, it is then that they begin to think "This is okay, I can be my real self here". Sometimes the true self steps up and children can then display all levels of behaviours because they are pushing the foster carers to see whether they will still want them. It is a case of "If I do this, will you still want me?" or "If I push it another little while, will you still want me?" It is about the foster carers and children, particularly the children, finding themselves within the foster care home and finding out where they fit , how much they are wanted and the degree to which this adult will fight for them. It is complex. What we are essentially saying is that the needs of the children must be central to everything and all services should be led by the needs of the child.

In respect of foster carers and their correspondence with their link social worker, they would not have direct correspondence with the child's own social worker. Communication would take place through their link social worker. Foster carers around the country have different experiences, from very high levels of communication to very poor levels. If I have a difficulty today and need an answer such as whether my child can get consent to go on the school trip next week or an answer regarding a specific aspect of my care, I need it today. Next week will probably be too late. What we are asking for is that systems of communication and protocols be developed in respect of how people communicate and are communicated with in return. Everybody is working to ensure that the placement is successful for the child. That is everybody's role.

That is an area that has been highlighted through our members on our helpline. It is probably the source of most frustration.

In terms of the gap year and flexibility, perhaps we should consider not having cut-off ages for children in care. Again, in terms of normalising, we should always be looking at the norm for every other child when we are benchmarking for children in care. Often it comes down to the child and his or her ability to engage. In terms of the aftercare policy on continuing education and a continuation of financial support up until the age of 23, IFCA is clearly stating that we need to see the criteria involved. Is an apprenticeship acceptable, for example? If a person starts a course but does not like it - as is the case with many young people - can he or she switch to a different course? We need to have a degree of flexibility. A huge amount of thought and consideration has been put into the aftercare policy that has been developed by Tusla. There has also been extensive consultation on the policy. Tusla has offered consultation to IFCA members around the country in recent weeks and months. When the policy is implemented, we will be assessing its impact on the ground. This comes back to the point we made earlier, namely, if we develop a policy it must be streamlined, people must be trained-----