Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I warmly welcome the Bill, which shows that he has blazed a trail in this portfolio. The Bill deals with a section of society which needs the care and attention of the Government and Oireachtas. It is an important measure in ensuring that children in foster care are assured of better care where that is necessary and that foster parents will gain additional rights in respect of the children placed in their care.

I agree with Senator Tuffy's comments on the rights of unmarried fathers. However, I would like to see some unmarried fathers taking their obligations more seriously. In some cases, they are not taken seriously at all. It has been said on many occasions, including by a former Member of this House, that there are some who seem to make a practice of being unmarried fathers. It is important that the children born in these situations are cared for by society. Many people show great generosity in this regard. A man and woman I met recently, having reared their own family, have no fewer than three foster children. I admire those people.

As chairman of the Midland Health Board in 2003, I had the honour of officially opening the Irish Foster Care Association conference in Tullamore. At that time I had a number of conversations not only with foster parents but with social workers. Has there been any improvement in the number of social workers being recruited? One former health board had to go to South Africa to recruit social workers.

The Irish Foster Care Association has welcomed this Bill. I expect that when the legislation is enacted, foster parents, the children in their care and relatives will benefit, which is the object of the Bill. The Health Service Executive will also benefit in the longer term as the number of court directions which have been sought will be reduced significantly thereby freeing up social worker resources to work with, and support, other families, which is important. We are freeing up an important resource.

The Irish Foster Care Association has more than 1,000 members but has said there are not enough foster care families available and that there has been a steady decline in applications. Why is that the case? Is this becoming a less generous society in that regard? I sincerely hope it is not.

Under this Bill foster carers have increased autonomy in consenting to medical examinations and treatment and to the issue of passports as well as in the day to day care issues such as giving permission for children or young people to go on a school tour or attend a conference. Although they are basic issues, they have been causing difficulties for foster parents, relatives and especially for children in foster care who are made to feel different in a school situation as the process of consent often involves going to court and, therefore, takes much longer. We want to ensure children in foster care have every opportunity to fit into a stable family and school life and this legislation is especially tailored to do that.

The Minister of State instanced the number of children in foster care and the number of children who have been in foster care for five years or more, although not all may have been in the same placement for that period. An important stage in one's life is childhood when one's personality is formed and the home and the parents play a pivotal role in that regard. It is imperative the mental and physical health of the child is ensured and nothing can complement that more than a good and caring natural family or, in the absence of that, a good, caring foster family.

Foster carers and their families make a huge contribution to the improvement of the lives of children and young people in their care by providing a welcoming place for them in their homes at what can be a vulnerable time in a child's or a young person's life. We want to ensure children in foster care have every opportunity to fit into a stable family and school life. As I said, this legislation is geared to do that. The Health Service Executive will continue to have a role in the lives of children in respect of whom the new court orders will be granted — for example, through the care planning process. In addition, the child's parents or a person acting in loco parentis will be notified or will have to give consent, as appropriate, before the court grants an order.

The Minister of State will be the keynote speaker at the Combat Poverty Agency conference — Children Living with Poverty and Disadvantage: New Knowledge, New Perspectives — on Wednesday, 22 November 2006. I look forward to attending that conference, if I can.

Since its inception in 1981, the Irish Foster Care Association has endeavoured to improve the services provided for children in foster care. Over the years, this has been achieved in partnership with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the health boards and other relevant agencies. The association played a key role in the development of the Placement of Children in Foster Care Regulations 1995 and the report of the working group on foster care. The association was also ably represented on the group which developed the national standards for foster care, which the Minister was happy to launch in April of this year. The association has moved from being an organisation of mutual support for those involved in foster care to one which provides training programmes on many aspects of foster care aimed at foster carers' children and young people in foster care and the people who wish to explore the possibility of fostering.

Foster carers play a vitally important role in the lives of children when they provide a place in their homes for them at a vulnerable time in their lives. As parents and carers, their role in the care of children is to ensure they facilitate them in every way possible to allow them to achieve their true potential. The Minister of State has spoken extensively on this issue and I welcome the contributions of my colleagues opposite. There is unanimous approval for this important Bill.

Is it true that when a bequest is made to a child in foster care, the status of that bequest is different to that to a child who is part of a natural family? This is an area at which the Minister of State might look with a view to changing it. I look forward to hearing his views on it. Many foster parents feel very strongly about this issue and I have been contacted by a number of them. The Minister of State nodded in recognition of what I said. I congratulate him on introducing this Bill and look forward to contributing on Committee Stage. As the Minister of State said, he will have something additional to say at that stage.