Shortage of foster carers for Cavan and Monaghan, report finds
The recruitment and retention of new foster carers in Cavan-Monaghan continues to be problem. A total of 12 recruitment campaigns were conducted in the past year but only resulted in three new homes being added to the approved panel.
The shortage has meant one child was placed in “short-term foster care” while awaiting a longer-term placement, and the deficit is also impacting the “quality of matching” children with carers “to meet the child’s needs”.
The detail is continued in a recently published HIQA report examining the service across the region.
Highlighting that more needs to be done to increase the number of foster carers locally, the review also found “challenges” in terms of “appropriate matching” of foster carers and children within the area.
Recruitment and retention of carers had been identified as a “priority”, and even escalated on the risk scale register by TUSLA in Cavan-Monaghan in 2022. But despite best efforts, it remains an issue, and was recognised as such when HIQA carried out its inspection back in May.
At the time Cavan/Monaghan had a total of 148 children in foster care, 119 of whom were in general foster care and 29 children in relative foster care.
There were three children placed in private foster care settings, and one child awaiting a full-time foster placement.
Fifteen children were placed in an emergency since May 2022, and there were 55 new placements in care in the 24 months prior to inspection.
Thirteen children, meanwhile, had a placement change in the 24 months prior to the inspection.
Data provided indicated 17 approvals of long-term placements in the past 12 months, and 13 more awaiting long-term matches.
The inspection was focused on children’s experiences of care, their rights and sense of identity, their needs and how the service considered these needs, and the availability of suitable foster carers.
There were, at the time, just 104 foster carer households in the area, consisting of 81 general foster care placements and 13 relative foster care placements.
However, five foster carers had left the panel voluntarily in the 12 months previous, some stating that the decision was due to the “ageing out” of children placed with them.
While there was a formal matching process in place for children and carers, the implementation and recording of this process “required improvement”, HIQA noted.
The area did seek to place children with relatives and within their local own communities, with an “emphasis” on keeping siblings together. Out of 35 sibling groups, the “majority” found homes together.
However, due to the “limited availability” of foster carers within the two counties, 70 children were not placed with carers from the same “cultural, ethnic or religious background”, and 75 children others were not placed within their “own communities”. This included eight children placed outside the two counties.
Of the 104 foster carer households foster carers, 22 were allocated additional resources such as additional training, respite support, and enhanced payments to support the placement. Some 31 children in foster care in the area have a recognised disability.
The report counted a further four cases where the number of children placed exceeded the standards.
All seven standards inspected were found by HIQA to be either fully or substantially compliant.
Children spoke “positively” about their experiences of living in foster care. Contact with the children’s family and friends was promoted, and children's need for peer-to-peer support was “respected”.
Parents also spoke positively about the service.
But not all children were allocated a social worker to co-ordinate their care, and 11 were “unallocated”.
Out of the 11, three children were unallocated for over two-year period, two unallocated for 16 months, three for a period of four months, and three children for over one month.
“The area identified that there was not appropriate staffing to meet the service demand and to provide a quality service to all children-in-care in the area,” said HIQA inspectors, who also highlighted some problems with record keeping.
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, welcomed the overall findings of the report.
“Assessments of children’s needs were found to be comprehensive and, where children’s needs were complex, specialist services were requested to develop a better understanding and inform the assessment of the child. Assessments were found to be completed in a timely manner and children were provided with effective interventions,” said Tusla.
The organisation noted that the Cavan-Monaghan area has a therapeutic team, which provides specialist supports including psychological, play and art therapy to children. “Where external services are required, referrals are made to private agencies in circumstances where children cannot access services in a timely way through public services.”
Tusla acknowledged the areas where improvement is required, in particular a need for continued fostering recruitment efforts.
In January 2023 the area introduced two recruitment leads for both Cavan and Monaghan in a bid to turn things around. The area has also sought to develop links and engage with local ethnic minority groups to attract people to become foster carers, as well as with groups that would support culturally appropriate placements for Traveller and Roma children.
“Cases where a child did not have an allocated social worker were overseen by the social work team leaders and the principal social worker, and all of these children had up to date care plans,” says Tusla.
Speaking about the report, Eilidh MacNab, Tusla Regional Chief Officer, Dublin North East, stated: “Cavan Monaghan is one of the most diverse areas in the country, and it is clear from this report that the area has worked hard to provide a service that promotes ethnicity, identity and culture for all children.
“We recognise that we have further work to do, including in the recruitment and retention of foster carers, and this is something we continue to promote at both a local and national level. However, we are pleased with the positive findings within this report.”
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