Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1947. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of foster carers that are without Garda vetting in counties Louth and Meath. [28565/17]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1951. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of persons on the Louth Meath foster care committee that are without Garda vetting. [28569/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1947 and 1951 together.

Under Standard 10 of the National Standards for Foster Care the providers of foster care services are required to ensure that children and young people in foster care are protected from abuse and neglect. Foster care services in the counties Louth and Meath were found to be substantially compliant with this standard during a themed Health Information Quality Authority inspection carried out in March 2017. Areas where the provider (Tusla) failed to meet the required standard included instances where Garda Síochána vetting was not updated for all foster carers within the required timeframe. To address this finding all foster carers and family members over 18 years, were sent the e-vetting application on 30th March 2017. All outstanding vetting will be finalised by the 31st July 2017, and a database of completed vetting has been created to ensure for the timely completion in the future.

A recent themed inspection by the Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA) of foster care services in the Louth/Meath area found that up to date Garda Síochana vetting was not on file for each member of the Foster Care Committee in the region. In addressing this finding, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency with responsibility for foster care services in the Louth/Meath region, has processed e-vetting applications forms from all Foster Care Committee members and it is expected that these will be returned by the Vetting Unit by 31st July 2017. A system will be put in place to ensure timely completion of vetting procedures for Foster Care Committee members in the future.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1948. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if appropriate contracts are in place for all foster care placements in counties Louth and Meath. [28566/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has responsibility for foster care services in each of the 17 regional areas, including Louth and Meath. In a recent themed inspection of foster care services in Louth and Meath the Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA) found that there were 217 foster care households in the area, 159 of which were general foster carers and 58 were relative foster carers. The inspection identified that contracts were not in place for all relative foster carers who had children placed with them, but did not raise this as an issue in relation to general foster carers. In response to the finding Tulsa has undertaken a review and has confirmed that this breach in standards (no contract on the file) was limited to a small number of foster carers (three) identified in the inspection.