Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 15 Nov 2001

Vol. 544 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - Foster Parenting.

Mr. B. Hayes

This evening I would like to highlight a relatively new situation that faces many hundreds of grandparents in some deprived parts of Dublin. I am not suggesting for a moment that the issue is confined to Dublin, but I have no information in relation to people outside the capital.

Three weeks ago I asked the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Hanafin, to inform me as to the number of children who were waiting to be placed in foster care. The information supplied by the Minister suggested that over 300 children nationally were waiting to find foster care families. Almost half of these children lived in the Dublin region. On receipt of this information I publicly called on the relevant health boards to redouble their efforts to find more foster care families and offer more support to parents who are providing a home for children who find themselves in this difficult situation.

Following this call, I was approached by a number of women who now want their stories told in public. In recent weeks I have come into contact with many people who have become foster care parents for their children's children. Mothers who have reared their children must now become, not by choice or design, the new foster care parents to a generation of children from broken and dysfunctional families.

The following case illustrates this new phenomenon. A woman from Dublin in her early 50s who has reared her family has recently provided a home for her daughter's two young children. Her daughter is a recovering drug abuser who was unable to cope. This grandparent had to physically break into her daughter's local authority house where she found the children neglected and their mother high on drugs. For the past year this woman has raised these children in the full knowledge of the social services, but has received absolutely nothing from the State during this time. In fact, she was advised by her social worker to abandon the children in the local crèche and to then apply as a foster care parent three days later, at which point she would be entitled to the foster care payment. The social worker in this case has already confirmed in writing these children have lived with their grandparent for the past year. Because the grandmother is providing a home for these children, they are not seen as a priority. Priority is not attached to those children who would be in hopeless situations were it not for the intervention of their immediate family. These grandparents are necessarily being punished for providing care.

Incidentally, this young mother was allowed to leave the Coombe women's hospital as a known drug abuser. At no point did a public health nurse or doctor visit the young children or the mother since then.

This grandparent is now looking after two children and acting as the foster care parent for these children while their mother is recovering from drugs. Questions should be asked about how any recovering drug addict could be able to provide the type of stability that is needed for children.

When this grandparent applied for child benefit, she was turned down. When she applied for child dependant allowance, she was turned down. When she sought support from the local social services, her particular needs were turned down. This is not an isolated case. This woman and countless others are saving the State a fortune in that they are caring for their children's children in the local community where they still have access to both parents.

I believe that where members of an extended family are prepared to foster a member of their immediate family, the foster care payment should apply. Many grandparents have become the new foster care parents of children whose mothers and fathers have become completely disconnected from mainstream society. While there is an on-going debate surrounding the new role of grandparents, particularly where grandparents are providing a child minding service for both working parents, we have, as a society, failed to recognise the hopeless situation that confronts many parents who are dependent on drugs and who simply cannot cope.

In short, fewer children would present for either foster care or adoption if their extended families were given the support that is needed for them to remain in the local community. The case I have brought to the attention of the Dáil highlights the new reality that confronts policy makers in the area of child care provisions. The grandparent to whom I have referred could receive £200 per week if she decided to foster a child she had never met. However, this woman is already fostering two children without any financial support from the State at a time in her life when her children are reared. I believe there is a profound injustice in this. This woman wants the State to recognise the situation that she and hundreds of other families face.

Mr. Jacob

I thank Deputy Hayes for raising this urgent matter. At the end of 2000 there were 790 children placed in relative care compared to 635 at the end of 1998, which represents an increase of 24%. The figures for non-relative foster care were 3,424 and 3,201, respectively, an increase of 7%.

As the Deputy will be aware, under the Child Care Act, 1991, the health boards are the statutory authorities charged with the duty to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection. The Act provides that a health board shall take into care, either on a voluntary basis or under a court order, a child who resides or is found in its area who requires care and protection that he or she is unlikely to receive unless he or she is taken into its care. It is, therefore, a matter for the health board to make a decision as to whether a child needs to be taken into care and provide the most appropriate form of alternative care for that child.

Children who are taken into the care of the health board can be placed in residential care, foster care under the Child Care (Placement of Children in Foster Care) Regulations, 1995, or in relative care under the Child Care (Placement of Children in Relative Care) Regulations, 1995.

Foster care allowances are paid in respect of children placed in care under these regulations. Under the regulations a health board must assess the needs of a child placed in care and the suit ability of the prospective foster or relative carer. A care plan must also be drawn up for the child and regular reviews carried out. The implementation of the care plan places significant responsibilities and duties on foster carers, whether they are relatives or non-relatives. The foster care allowance is paid in recognition of these additional responsibilities and the additional cost of looking after foster children.

Under the regulations it is possible for a health board to place a child with relatives in an emergency. However, the board must ensure that its regulatory obligations in relation to the assessment of the child's needs and relatives are carried out as soon as is practicable and that they conform to all the other obligations in relation to care plans and reviews.

The issue of relative care was dealt with in detail in the report of the working group on foster care, Foster Care – A Child Centred Partnership, which was published in May of this year. The report sets out a number of basic principles that should guide placements with relatives as follows: the guiding tenet of best interests of the child should be adhered to in all foster and relative care placements; a child should only be placed in an appropriate, safe, healthy and stable environment; the standard of care must be equivalent to that provided in a traditional foster care arrangement; placements should only be made where there is a secure attachment between the child or relative or there is the potential for such an attachment to develop; a partnership approach should be used in developing skills and supports for relatives providing foster care and placements should not be made as a means to provide income support.

As the figures indicate, this form of alternative care is increasing. However, the report emphasised that although the child is placed with other family members, he or she is still in the care of the board and the board therefore has the ultimate responsibility for his or her health, welfare and safety. The report stated that, as a basic principle, a child placed with relatives must receive the same level of protection, care and support as a child placed with non-relatives. Therefore, even where the child is already in the care of the relative, the health board must carry out the necessary assessment of the child's needs and the assessment, training and support for relative carers, which allow them to ensure that this is the case.

The report recognises that some of the criteria in assessing relative care vis-à-vis non-relative care may be different. The issue of standards in relation to assessments, training, support and supervision in relative care are being considered in the context of the national standards on practices and procedures in foster care, which are being drawn, at present, by a sub-committee of the Irish social services inspectorate.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.20 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 20 November 2001.