Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Cuív has cut to the heart of the matter in describing the role and the remit of this committee. We must look at the issue from a social protection point of view. This is where we can be most useful.

I acknowledge the incredibly important role that foster parents play in the provision of care for extremely vulnerable children and children who very much need that care. I have seen this work in my role as a primary school teacher. I have seen many children who were going through the foster care system and were in extremely loving and caring placements that helped those children achieve their full potential.

Deputy Ó Cuív has dealt in length with the issues around the credits and the pension. I accept this is clearly not work foster carers do for money. If people make the decision to enter the foster caring system, they are clearly not motivated by profit. It was interesting for me to find out that I would not qualify as a foster carer based on the work that happens within my household. To qualify as a foster carer a person within my household would have to make a decision to step back from work. While we are both parents within our household we would not qualify as foster carers, which is interesting.

I want to ask about the far end of foster care. I attended an Empowering People in Care, EPIC, event that was run on the Waterford campus of the South East Technological University, SETU, which I am now training myself to say as opposed to saying WIT. Will the witnesses talk to us about what happens when the child reaches the age of 18? This is very important. I learned at the EPIC event that it can be a situation that places a great deal of stress and pressure on those children who are, essentially, exiting State care or foster care. How do the witnesses feel this could be designed to be better supported? In my own case, at the age of 45 I know that I could still turn the key in my parents' door. When we go back to basics, whatever happens in life, we know that there is still a door we can turn the key in. I believe it is the case with many foster parents that they still provide this lifelong relationship with children who have passed through their care. I do not believe this is supported or recognised. Will the witnesses talk to us a little about that? Will they also comment on the pressure facing the foster child if he or she enters third level education and, for example, if a course is not working out for them? What are the implications of this on their payments?

If a person has gone through the fostering experience, it seems to me very strange that foster carers would care for a child for a long period and then at the age of 18 or 23, the doors just seem to come down on the relationship. I know, of course, that the doors do not come down on the relationship, but how does the State understand that relationship? Perhaps the witnesses would outline their experiences of that, and if there are ways the State could support an ongoing relationship in a better way.