Dr. Maria Corbett:

Foster care is the backbone of the care system. It is absolutely critical. In some parts of the country the anecdotal evidence is that there are not sufficient foster carers for children, including for very young children and babies. There are not enough foster carers. The Department of children is commencing the roll-out of a national policy framework - I think that is what they are going to call it - which is effectively a strategy on alternative care. We do not have one at the moment. Tusla has its own agency-based plan in terms of foster care, residential care and aftercare but we do not have a national plan. It is really important that we have a national plan. Tusla is critical in terms of its engagement with foster carers. As Deputy Dempsey mentioned, we need to have some reflection on the experience of foster carers now in terms of pension rights and other elements, including interaction with schools. What additional supports do they need? Why are foster carers leaving the system? Why are we not getting new categories of people engaging in fostering? We need to explore the sense of exit and entry, and all of those things. We have to look to see how we can plan to ensure we have foster carers in the future.