Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This morning, I met representatives from the Irish Foster Care Association and learned of some of the inequalities that foster parents and children experience. If a foster child is coming to someone's home, a lot of the time, the child comes with just the schoolbag on his or her back without any start-up grant for a bed or a few little toys to make the child feel at home. The child or parent is not entitled to a little start-up grant for that child. A parent who is fostering a child is also not entitled to the back-to-school allowance. I call on the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the political parties before the budget next week to invest in our children in foster care and the parents.