Ms Catherine Bond:

Points were made on the importance of awareness-raising in the foster care community and on people who have worked for ten years making additional contributions. Awareness-raising can certainly be undertaken. We can also undertake to collate the data on whether people would have the ten years of contributions, but we are aware that many do not. We can continue to obtain the data.

On the issue of foster carers receiving a payment between foster-care placements, the carers are not given any retainer payment by Tusla but are on the register of foster carers and available to foster. Therefore, there is certainly a gap for foster parents in the period. The rationale for not paying the child benefit to the foster carer for the first six months is in the provision in the Child Care Act, which specifies that short-term fostering is for six months or less. Therefore, the objective is to return the child to the family.

The rationale has always been that there is hope that the child will return to the family. The disruption of that payment to the birth family would be too great, and the bureaucracy around having to reapply for it would probably take as long in that period.

On the Chairman's other question, the foster carers do not receive any additional payments other than the foster care allowance. They may approach Tusla for extraordinary expenses. Ms Corridon may be able to speak to the experience of taking in a new baby, and all of the expenses attributed to setting up a new foster care placement when I finish. Funds can be provided on an extraordinary one-off basis, for example, if carers want to buy particular items for a child. Without a doubt, however, financial pressures are placed on foster carers in the first six months of the placement, particularly if the foster carer has a teenager who is going to school, given the cost of uniforms. In our recent survey carried out during fostering fortnight this year, we asked our foster carers what difference an additional allowance would make for them. We received high levels of responses stating that an additional allowance would enable foster carers to bring children to more activities or perhaps even pay for therapies for children that are not provided by the HSE or Tusla. Tusla does not make up the shortfall in the allowance; it is assessed on a case-by-case basis.

On foster carers who care for children with disabilities receiving the home carers allowance, it is a real challenge. Many of the children in foster care have highly complex needs, but a diagnosis of disability is required in order for the foster carer to avail of those other payments. All of our children come into care with significant levels of need because they have very early traumatic experiences, but they may not be diagnosed as having a disability. Our foster carers are providing high levels of care for children with very complex needs, but will be unable to apply for extra payments if the children are not diagnosed as having a disability.

On unaccompanied minors, we have not really seen cases of foster carers having an unaccompanied minor being placed with them in a official fostering capacity yet. Just yesterday, an approved foster carer who has an unaccompanied minor placed with them contacted our helpline. However, the placement is not within a fostering capacity. The issue that the foster carer raised with us is the high levels of cost associated with housing a child who has arrived in the country, starting them in a new school and buying the school uniform, and dealing with very traumatised children who will require levels of counselling and trauma care. As of yesterday, when the foster carer contacted IFCA, she had not received any financial assistance from anybody.