Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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489. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children in private foster care in each month of 2018. [10350/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I can inform the Deputy that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, publish figures monthly  on the number of children placed with privately provided placements, by placement type. The most recent date for which information is available is November 2018. Table 1, below, lays out the number of children in private placements for January to November 2018. It should be noted that the figures published in monthly performance activity reports are provisional figures and subject to ongoing validation.

Tusla's local fostering committee are the approval body for all foster care placements, including those recruited by private foster care companies. Children placed with private foster care companies are allocated a Tusla social worker.

Table 1. Children in Private Placements, at end November 2018

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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490. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of private providers engaged in sourcing foster care here; the amount paid to each private provider in 2018; and the number of children placed in foster care by each provider in the same year. [10351/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Deputy may be aware that private providers do not place children in foster care. All children in foster care, regardless of provider, are in the care of the Child and Family Agency. If Tusla cannot source a placement within its own pool of foster carers, a private provider may be approached to provide a placement. All foster carers providing a foster care service, including those employed by  private foster care companies, are assessed by Tusla's Foster Care Committee, prior to commencing placements.

 As regards the number of children placed in foster care in 2018, I have written to Tusla to request the figures to which the Deputy refers.