Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 February 2022
200. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if Tusla has run awareness campaigns seeking fostering care for children who are refugees; if so, if there has been a strong response; the number of child refugees that have been successfully placed in a fostering arrangement in the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4999/22]
View answerIn 2021, under my Department’s ‘What Works’ initiative, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, was awarded funding in the region of €106,000 for the recruitment of specialised foster carers to offer suitable placements to separated children seeking international protection (SCSIP) in Ireland. This includes children who arrive as part of relocation programmes and children who arrive alone at Irish ports and not as part of relocation efforts.
While there is an active recruitment programme in place in Tusla for general foster carers, this targeted initiative known as ‘Fáilte Care’ aims to: (i) identify and recruit specialist care providers through a targeted campaign; (ii) provide a period of online support for specialist carers recruited in this way in the initial stages of a placement and; (iii) create a pool of specialist carers from which to draw as more SCSIP arrive.
The first targeted campaign for carers for SCSIP took place in Autumn 2021. The response to the campaign was un-precedented with Tusla receiving 427 enquiries. From these enquiries 67 applications were made and Tusla is currently in the process of progressing the assessment of these applications.
The Deputy is seeking information on the numbers of SCSIP successfully placed in a fostering arrangement in the past ten years. As this is an operational matter for Tusla I have referred the matter to Tusla, and asked that a direct response be provided to the Deputy.
