Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 25 Nov 1997

Vol. 483 No. 3

Written Answers. - Children in Care.

Frances Fitzgerald

Ceist:

205 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of children who were placed in foster care on a long-term basis and on a short-term basis in each of the health board areas for each of the years from 1995 to date in 1997. [20208/97]

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Mr. Fahey)

The information requested by the Deputy for 1995 and 1996 is as follows:

Number of Children placed in Foster Care on a long-term and short-term basis for the years 1995 and 1996.

Health Board	1995 Long- Term	1995 Short- term	1996 Long- Term	1996 Short- Term
Eastern	44	443	44	330
Midland	79	116	63	131
Mid-Western	34	277	38	313
North- Eastern	25	175	34	133
North-Western	17	46	14	63
South-Eastern	39	204	31	118
Southern	110	77	53	110
Western	23	108	25	79

Information in respect of 1997 is not yet available to my Department and I will contact the Deputy as soon as it has been collected from the health boards.

The Deputy will appreciate that this information is not routinely gathered by health boards and, while my Department has attempted to assemble the information on a compatible basis, each board may interpret the question slightly differently.

Frances Fitzgerald

Ceist:

206 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of children who have been placed in foster homes in each of the health board areas before an assessment was carried out. [20209/97]

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Mr. Fahey)

During 1996, six children were placed in foster care before assessments of the foster parents were completed. The position by individual health boards is as follows:

Health Board	Number
Eastern	0
Midland	0
Mid-Western	0
North-Eastern	0
North-Western	5 (relative foster care placements)
South-Eastern	0
Southern	0
Western	1

Frances Fitzgerald

Ceist:

207 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of foster places currently available in each of the health board areas. [20210/97]

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Mr. Fahey)

The information sought by the Deputy is as follows:

Health Board	Approximate Number of Places
Eastern	1,100
Midland	208
Mid-Western	392
North-Eastern	368
North-Western	113
South-Eastern	340
Southern	458
Western	168
Total Number of Places	3,147

The Deputy will appreciate that it is only possible to give the approximate number of places.