Written answers

Tuesday, 24 May 2016

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Foster Care Policy

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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623. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the requirements for an Irish couple to foster a Syrian child; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11278/16]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has a statutory duty to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection under the Child Care Act 1991 and the Child and Family Agency Act 2013. Parents may agree to their children being taken into the care of Tusla on a voluntary basis, or, Tusla may apply to the court for a care order.

Foster care (including relative foster care) is the main form of alternative care provided by Tusla for children in need of care. Fostering involves caring for someone else’s child in one’s own home, providing family life for a child or young person who cannot live with his or her own parents. All foster carers, including relatives, undergo an assessment and training process to establish their suitability and competence. It should be noted that some 93% of children in State care are in foster care. Culture, ethnicity and religious affiliation are taken into account when placing any child in foster care.

As the Deputy is aware, the Minister for Justice and Equality has primary responsibility in the area of asylum and immigration. Any child under the age of 18, which might include children from Syria, arriving at a port of entry or at the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC), and who is not in the custody of an adult, will be referred to Tusla.

Tusla has a dedicated social work team for separated children seeking asylum. The social workers carry out an immediate assessment of need and risk, and make appropriate arrangements for the accommodation, care and protection of the child in accordance with the Child Care Act 1991. Children are placed in the most appropriate placement option depending on their assessed needs. Again, the most common form of placement is with a foster family. An equity of care principle applies to separated children, which affords them the same standard of care provision as any other child in State care.

Tusla has advised me that the process for fostering a Syrian child is the same as the process for all fostering applications in Ireland. People who are interested in becoming foster carers express their interest either directly to a local fostering team or they can make enquiries on line (). Social work departments in the area follow up with them to check that they understand what fostering entails and if they remain interested in it. If so, a link social worker is assigned to them and the assessment process commences.

The issue of any proposed inter-jurisdictional transfer of a child from Syria or a third country is a separate matter. Apart from immigration requirements, the determination of whether it would be in the best interests of any child to be moved from their country of origin or habitual residence for the purposes of providing alternative care is a matter for the appropriate authorities in the country of origin or habitual residence of the child. Such transfers are rare and, in the main, are associated with relative care or guardianship arrangements if a child has been orphaned or abandoned.

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