Foster carers cry out for more support
Councillors have been told there is “no excuse” for the continued neglect of foster carers in Ireland and additional supports are urgently required for the people who care for some of Ireland's most vulnerable children.
Members of the Irish Foster Care Association (IFCA) - CEO Roisin Clarke and Chairperson Raymond Nolan - presented their case to members of Cavan County Council at their September monthly meeting last Monday, September 11.
They arrived in Cavan - one of their first stops - as part of a countrywide tour of local authority chambers to highlight years of neglect that have thrown the sector into the most serious crisis faced in living memory.
“Carers are struggling,” Ms Clarke told the meeting, highlighting that the weekly Foster Care Allowance was last increased in 2009 when it went up by just €6 a week. That figure is against a backdrop of spiralling inflation and successive hikes in the cost of living, in everything from food to electricity.
The IFCA's hope is that, by shedding light on the plight of foster carers, the message will filter up the chain of power in political parties, and form part of crucial discussions ahead of the forthcoming Budget, due for announcement in early October.
Ms Clarke claims foster carers have been perennially “overlooked”, an “oversight” acknowledged by Minister for Children, Roderic O'Gorman, last year. To meet the changing needs of foster carers in today's society, and as a way to reverse the cycle of families leaving the network and hopefully attract more, the IFCA is calling for the weekly allowance to be increased to at least €500.
They are also seeking a reform of pensions by Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys, as well as the introduction of a grant to support children entering foster care.
The care system has been “damaged” by lack of investment, Ms Clarke said, and the lack of co-ordinated policy on support has only pushed further towards “breaking point”.
Himself a foster carer for more than a decade, Mr Nolan said he speaks with other carers on a daily basis and knows numerous families pulling the plug simply because the supports aren't there with child and family agency, Tusla, which is having difficulty retaining staff.
He spoke with one family who would drive the children they care for 1,100km per week, however they receive nothing for the first 150km.
Another family he knew, providing foster care for almost as long as he has, handed in their notice of resignation only last week.
Ms Clarke puts the cost of placing a child in residential care in Ireland at close to €14,000 per week, compared to the €352 foster carers receive.
She says the subject of foster care was once “taboo”, but times have changed.
“There is no better place to rear a child than in a family setting."
The presentation and their campaign was given wide support from within the chamber.
Fianna Fáil's John Paul Feeley had tabled a motion inviting the body back in July, and noted that often the “relationship” between a foster family and child doesn't simply end when they turn 18.
Like Cllr Feeley, Aontú's Sarah O'Reilly knows a local foster family, and remarked upon how, with little in return, carers are still serving the same role despite a rise in cases involving more “complex needs”.
Fine Gael's TP O'Reilly meanwhile suggested: “You can't put a value on the service carers provide. You can't put a price on investment in a child's future. It's invaluable.”
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