Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I had a useful meeting with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, in the context of the recommendation in the Report of the Commission on Pensions about care and the recognition of unpaid care. There is a strong recommendation there. My Department and I, as Minister, are advocating that foster care would be part of that consideration. We had a good engagement with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and her officials. I know the officials have been continuing to meet. I do not have a final conclusion on it as of yet, but I will look to meet with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys again on this. Certainly, along with the issues of the allowances and the actual rate of the weekly payment, pensions were among the top three issues that IFCA and Movement 4 Change in Foster Care flagged for me to provide that degree of recognition of the nature of foster care.

We should recognise the nature of foster care, as the Deputy described it. While I will not say it is essential, very often, it is important that one parent is available at all times to meet the degree of need a young person in foster care may have. It is a matter of meeting that diversity of needs. That is what Tusla is trying to achieve in the foster care plan it published last year, as well in terms of some of those financial issues we spoke about and in terms of the greater priority fostering is getting within the organisation now through the appointment of a national lead for fostering. Sometimes we can talk about organisational changes and we can roll our eyes a bit, but it is valuable to have a dedicated person leading on a particular issue. As I said, I was surprised there was not one on foster care already. There is one now and I think that is good.

I also refer to the the changes in terms of the therapeutic supports and providing some in-house therapeutic supports dedicated to foster parents. We recognise - and we have spoken about this before - that so many parents are looking for resources for therapies for children with disabilities. However, we must recognise the particular need among children who are in the foster care system. It will be valuable to have some of those dedicated supports. I would hope this is a tangible example of what the Deputy was speaking about regarding recognising the changing model of foster care. This is not just literally a matter of providing a home, a bed and a family atmosphere, but it is also very much a matter of day to day engagement with the often significant needs of a young person.