Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1959. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of occasions since 2014 and to date in 2017, that counties Louth and Meath have gone outside of the national standards for foster care recommendations and placed more than two children in one foster care placement . [28577/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The National Standards for Foster Care recommend that no more than two unrelated children are placed in a foster home; however, there is no specific restriction in place with regard to siblings.

At the time of the recent themed HIQA inspection of foster care services in the Louth Meath area there were twenty three foster families who had more than two unrelated children placed in their care.

The number of foster carers in this category fluctuates, as, for example, a child could be placed in care for a night or two, on an emergency basis, and either the child returns home or moves to another foster placement. At all times the area will consider the skill and experience of the foster carer and the needs of the child requiring a placement. If the area assesses that a carer has the capacity to care for an extra child than this will be considered, as opposed to possibly sending a child out of the Louth Meath area, away from family, friends, school, community etc. As one would expect it can be extremely difficult for a child to be received into care. Moving a child from their locality may compound that difficulty, so the fostering department try to avoid this scenario if at all possible.

A Fostering Recruitment campaign is currently underway in the Louth Meath region in order to increase the pool of foster carers locally .