Written answers

Wednesday, 20 April 2016

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Foster Care Supports

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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251. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to support all children in foster care as a matter of urgency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7578/16]

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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It is vital that all children in care and their carers receive adequate support to ensure a successful placement. Foster care is the main form of alternative care for children in need of care and protection and is the preferred option for children who cannot live with their parent(s)/guardian(s). At the end of December 2015, there were 6,388 children in care in Ireland. Some 93% (5,932) of these children were cared for in foster placements. The majority of children are in the care of general foster carers. At the end of December 2015, some 64% (4,100) of children in care were in a general foster care placement and 29% (1,832) were in foster care with relatives.

Key elements of the support to be provided to children in care include: access to a Link Social Worker for supervision and support to the foster carers; allocation of a dedicated Social Worker for children in care; onward referral and advocacy for access to specialist services to meet the child’s identified needs, such as speech and language therapy, counselling and psychology services.

The link worker is a professionally qualified social worker and meets regularly with foster carers to supervise the capacity of the foster carers to adequately meet the needs of the child and to provide training, information and whatever other support that may be required. At the end of December 2015, 79% (3,277/4,151) of foster carers had a link social worker and 93% (5,492/5,932) of children in foster care had an allocated social worker. I would also note that Tusla provides funding to the Irish Foster Care Association which provides additional supports to carers, including training and advice services.

As the majority of children in care are in foster care family settings in the community, indicators of stability of the placement and participation in education are useful in monitoring the performance of Tusla in relation to overall welfare. I am happy to say that Tusla has reported that the results for these indicators are positive and show that overall placement stability is very high and participation in education is on a par with the national participation rates. In addition there are regulations and standards in place for foster and residential placements and there is a regime of regular monitoring and inspections by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). These inspection reports on available on www.hiqa.ie.All 17 areas have been inspected at least once by HIQA, as well as a number of private foster care services.

All children in care should have an allocated social worker but it is important to note that if a child has not been allocated a social worker, the cases are reviewed regularly by the principal social worker and are managed by duty social work teams to support the child's needs. Currently, 93% of children in care have an allocated social worker (5,937/6,388).

In the 2016 Performance Statement, I requested that Tusla make it a priority to strengthen the capacity of its foster care panels, and to ensure sufficient diversity in the numbers of foster carers to provide appropriate matching of carers with children in need of care. Tusla has committed to increasing the number of approved foster carers over 2016 in its business plan. The additional funding of €38 million which the Government has allocated to Tusla for 2016, will give the Agency greater capacity to respond to identified demand and to alleviate pressures being faced in areas such as unallocated cases and private residential and foster care.

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