Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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78. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if there is a lack of respite foster placements in the south-east; if his attention has been drawn to families being unable to get such placements in the region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28536/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Foster care placements is the preferred type of placement for children in care. The Child and Family Agency, Tusla, therefore seek to prevent the breakdown of these placements through offering a range of supports, including respite care. Tusla define respite as a short-term measure whereby a child or young person, in response to an identified risk of placement breakdown or children and young people at risk of coming into care, is placed in a respite setting away from their identified placement or home for a defined period of time. Following a period of respite, it is intended that they return to their identified care placement or home. 

In relation to the south-east region specifically, Tusla has informed me that requests for respite for foster carers in the Carlow, Kilkenny and South Tipperary region are processed through the formal structure of the placement committee or the emergency duty service. I have been informed that such requests by foster carers are made through the foster child’s social worker.

Tusla has informed me that every effort is being made in the region highlighted by the Deputy to provide respite to those foster carers who seek it. I have also been advised, however, that at times there may be cases where the service is not able to meet demand or provide respite which meets the specific needs of the child. In some circumstances the area seeks additional supports through private providers or other community supports.

Tusla’s recently published Residential Care Strategic Plan 2022-25 outlines Tusla’s aim to improve data collection on placement breakdown, and increase public residential capacity, including respite capacity, in specific regions of the country. Tusla are currently working on an implementation plan to progress the recommendations in that plan.