Dr. Helen Gogarty:

Family life is very important for children. The outcomes for children in foster care are more positive. They are often more challenging in the teenage years, but with foster homes, whether private or Tusla-managed, I see much more positive outcomes. That said, some children do very well in residential care, especially children who have a particular attachment profile. If, say, they are quite avoidant and find it difficult to make close relationships, children like that can do quite well in residential care. However, generally, family life meets the expectation of children. It is what we are all archetypally led to expect in life and children in foster care do very well.

Having said that, and having worked in this field for many years, I notice children's presentations becoming much more complex. During the 1990s, children were presenting with high levels of anxiety. Now children are presenting with a complex array of developmental problems and often issues like foetal exposure to alcohol or drugs, which results in developmentally challenging brain development, if you like, because their brain development was affected, perhaps in the womb. That plays out in the foster home in the form of behavioural difficulties, sleep disturbance and eating difficulties. Children are often assessed as having ADHD, for example, when there is a much deeper developmental problem that remains undiagnosed. I support my colleagues in saying there is a need for a comprehensive assessment service for children coming into care so these problems can be looked at at a very early stage and the services can be directed in the right way.