Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like the leaders of Fianna Fáil, Labour and the Green Party, I welcome the announcement yesterday by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs that Ireland will be taking in four children from Lesbos. It is a pathetic number to take as a nation but I know the constraints and the pressure that Tusla is under at this time. I arrived late to the House because I am a foster parent and I had a meeting this morning with Tusla about someone in my care. We could all do much more. We all have to look at ourselves. There are many kids in care for whom long-term placements cannot be found because it is not possible to find families to take them. That is really sad. Kids go from emergency home to emergency home and cannot find forever homes. We need to look at ourselves, as do people listening in today, and we need to ask what we can do to protect the children of this nation. Do we have a spare bedroom? Could we be a leading light in a child's life? Some of the kids get to 18 and aftercare services are not there for them. They have nobody. Last week, one teenager was out on the street at 9 a.m.

The buck stops with us. It stops with me. What can I do? It stops with every one of us. We can all come in here and say that we are disgusted that we can only take four children. My daughter said to me that we should take five because we have five bedrooms. I cannot take five kids. I would love to, but I cannot. The buck stops with us, as a people. We have to ask ourselves what each and every one of us can do. Can we take a child? I encourage any parent or family listening to get in touch with Tusla.They need us, they need families - they are desperate for families. It is taking much longer to assess parents to take children at this time, perhaps up to a year, because the regulations mean they cannot visit the families or carry out the assessments that are needed in a timely fashion, and they are relying on the existing force.

I want the Minister to come to the House to explain what he is going to do to try to encourage families and parents to take children into their homes.