Ms Aoife Bair?ad:

Our points about the retention of social workers interlink slightly. The role of the link worker is to support foster carers. Foster carers, like any parent who is under pressure, do not always parent the way they should or wish. The point made about that was right. They have a high turnover of link workers. It is a supervision relationship, so social workers get supervision and foster carers get supervision. That is a necessary part of fostering because it is complex. People can only do that with somebody they know and trust. Children in care have to tell their stories again and again, as do foster carers. Foster carers highlight issues repeatedly. They become frustrated and disenchanted with the system. They sometimes overstep in their decisions. We come back to the retention issue. We need more placements for social workers. Early intervention services are needed so that social workers are not under such pressure when children come in. Schools need to be more aware and to have supports in the community so that they are not always reliant on child protection services to intervene. They need to get those services earlier. The National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, developed that recently. More is needed so that can happen.

Social workers in Tusla have said repeatedly that one reason they get burned out and overwhelmed is how contentious the courts system is. We have an adversarial courts system if children come into care. It does not work for parents, children or social workers. It often leads to worse outcomes for families because it is a "he says, she says" evidence-based process that is not collaborative and does not look at the needs of everybody in that system. I know there are plans to change that, but it shows how vital that is, not just for when they are in the courts but with regard to the systems that are impacted.