Vol. 440 No. 8
82 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Health the rates of payment payable by health boards to parents providing foster care; the pro rata rate for each child; if this varies between health boards; and if a person (details supplied) in County Wexford is receiving the maximum entitlement under this scheme.
The standard rate of allowance payable to foster parents in respect of each child placed with them by a health board is £41.80 per week. An enhanced fostering allowance of £51.80 per week is payable in respect of a child over 16 years of age.
The fostering allowance is a payment to foster parents towards the cost incurred by them in bringing up the child in their own home. Children in the care of health boards may be placed with foster parents in accordance with the provisions of the Boarding Out of Children Regulations.
In this context, I would like to clarify that in the case referred to by the Deputy the three children are not in the care of the South Eastern Health Board. They are in fact in the care and custody of their father and are minded during the day while he is at work. The three children attend national school and the South Eastern Health Board is providing support to the family in the form of a weekly contribution to the cost of the child-minding arrangement.
