Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Bond and Mr. Murphy for attending the committee this morning. Perhaps it is just me, but I was very shocked to read that there are more than 6,000 children in State care. It is a far higher number than I expected. It is sad that so many children have to go into State care. It puts substantial pressure on the system and on foster care families. What is case load for a social worker? How many families would a link social worker ordinarily have in his or her workload? How many children in foster care do social workers working in that area have to manage? Are social workers working way beyond capacity?

The witnesses said that the national standards for foster care are not being met because of the shortage of social workers. Can they identify the standards that are not being met? A list was provided at the back of the appendix, but which standards are being left to one side? They also said that there is a shortfall in the number of social workers, but that it is more acute in some Tusla areas. Where are the problem areas in the country?

I take on board and agree with some of the solutions offered by the witnesses. It is great to see that solutions are being offered. There are only so many graduates that can progress through college at any one time. Enhancing the rights of foster parents to do more, including signing consent forms, for example, seems very practical and reasonable. What was the response of the Department when that suggestion was made? Are the witnesses still waiting for a response? I am also particularly interested in the fact that social workers here have to go back to full-time education whereas in the UK in-house training and part-time study options are available, which makes far more sense. If one is in full-time work, paying bills and looking after a family, leaving work to go and study full-time is just not feasible. Has that been put to the Department? What was its response?