Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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155. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children in foster care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19171/18]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, most recent figures indicate that there were 6,161 children in care at the end of February 2018. Of the children in care, 92% were in foster care nationally; there were 4,037 (65%) children in general foster care, 1,646 (27%) in relative care and 357 (6%) children were in a residential care placement, with the remaining children in other care placements appropriate to their assessed needs.

Foster care is the preferred option for children who have been received into care. This can be as a result of abuse and/or neglect and their parents' inability to care for them due to a combination of difficulties in their own lives. In recent years, more than 90% of children in care were in a foster care placement.