Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)
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2006. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the resources available from Tusla to support the emotional, psychological and physical needs of children in foster care; whether there are adequate staffing levels to provide these resources. [46936/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Foster carers play a vital role providing stable and caring homes for our most vulnerable children. Foster care is recognised as the preferred care setting for a child in the care of the State. As of Q4 2024, 87.2% of children in care were being cared for by foster carers, a figure which compares favourably internationally.

Children in foster care are a diverse group of individuals with an array of different needs varying in accordance with their developmental stage, background and experience of trauma, among other factors. Tusla has indicated that it endeavours to ensure that services offered to any child are reflective of their individual and unique experience. These include:

• Individual work with their allocated social worker including life story work.
• Engagement with Tusla Child Care leaders for therapeutic work on a range of topics, including lifestory, emotional regulation, and relationship building.
• For children and young people with particularly high levels of identified need Tusla Therapy have the Assessment, Consultation and Therapy Service (ACTS).
• Specialised services for children who have experienced sexual abuse.
• Therapeutic referrals for external professionals including Health Services Executive CAMHS, Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language therapy, Children’s Disability Network Teams, Local Primary care teams, specialised nursing and medical care.
• Tusla social workers also work closely with other professionals and statutory bodies to ensure that children’s identified needs are addressed by the appropriate agencies including the Department of Education, the Health Services Executive and the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.
• Children are supported to engage in community and extra-curricular activities to facilitate building of self-esteem and resilience as well as building positive sense of identity and accomplishment essential for positive emotional and psychological development.

• Fostering link social worker support.
• Tusla Peer Support service.
• Ongoing training and development events.
• Circle of security program.
• Marte Mao.
• Fostering Connections programs.
• Brothers and sister in care program.