Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I understand it is in the best motivation. My apologies. To operate successfully, the nature of our foster care services must adapt and develop over time. In long-term foster care arrangements, many foster carers sought increased autonomy when making day-to-day decisions in regard to the children who had been, in essence, members of their families for several years. In 2007, an amendment was made to the Child Care Act 1991, the principal purpose of which was to provide that a foster carer who had a child in his or her care for a continuous period of five years could apply for a court order for increased autonomy in regard to the care of that child. This provision received cross-party support and I understand the Health Service Executive is putting in place a protocol regarding its implementation.

Multi-dimensional treatment foster care, MTFC, is a little known but cutting edge aspect of foster care in the State. It is designed to provide treatment in a foster care setting for teenagers with challenging behaviour. These children are usually placed in high support or special care residential settings but some may be more appropriately placed in this type of foster care. MTFC is an evidence-based programme which originated in the United States under practitioners targeting serious and chronic juvenile offenders. The programme involves special training of successful foster care applicants and intensive daily support for them during the six to nine month placement of the young person. An important factor in the success of this programme is the emphasis placed on the involvement of each young person's family or after care resource from the outset.

This programme is in operation in several locations throughout the State. I was pleased to attend the launch of the service provided by Extern Ireland in Mullingar, as well as the TimeWise Fostering service provided by the Daughters of Charity in north Dublin. The MTFC recruitment campaigns are challenging because the programme involves an intense type of foster care, with a multiplicity of services and 24-hour access to those services. I pay tribute to the Health Service Executive for providing, where possible, this alternative to residential care.

As I said at the beginning of my speech, I am pleased to have this opportunity to inform Members of the significant developments taking place in foster care services. While we often hear negative stories in regard to our health and social services, it is important to highlight the significant and valuable work undertaken on a daily basis by social workers, Health Service Executive managers, foster carers and the Irish Foster Care Association for the benefit of thousands of children.