What Is Fostering?
Sometimes children and young people cannot safely live at home with their birth parents. The reasons for this vary including problems with parental addiction, mental health, exposure to various forms of abuse including physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect. Other children and young people may arrive into Ireland unaccompanied by a parent/guardian and seek asylum. Tusla is the statutory agency with responsibility for child protection and welfare in the Republic of Ireland. If it is not possible to provide enough supports to keep a child or young person safe at home, Tusla may seek to have the young person received into the care of the state. Almost 90% of all children received into the care of the state are looked after in foster families. Approximately 25% of children in care are placed in relative foster care.(Tusla Monthly Service Activity report October 2022) This means they are fostered by somebody who is either related to or has a pre-existing connection to the child. 63.5% of children and young people in care are in General Foster Care. Fostering is where families or individual provide a caring safe home to children and young people in care on behalf of the state. Foster families vary in many ways. Some families have two parents some have one, some families have birth children, some don’t, Some families have lived in Ireland all of their lives, some haven’t.
The important thing that all foster families/carers have in common is that they have a commitment to caring for children and young people. They need to be able to provide a warm, nurturing environment and to welcome children and young people into their homes and accept them for who they are. Foster families work closely with Tusla, schools and children’s families to help a child/young person to flourish.
Some children need foster families for a long time and grow up in their foster family. Other children will only need to be in foster care for a short time to enable their birth parents get the support needed to make it possible for the child to return. We need all sorts of families to enable us to meet the needs of children and young people at risk. While not every family may be able to do every type of fostering, there is probably some part of fostering that they could do. Regardless of the type of fostering or how many children someone fosters, if they can make the difference to even one Child they have done something extraordinary and will make an impact on the future of that child.
Who Are The Children?
Children and young people in care can be of any age up to 17 years and come from various backgrounds. Children can come from many different kinds of families and families of different ethnic origins This is quite similar to the multi-cultural society that Ireland is becoming. These children and young people are similar in many ways to other children and young people their age. Children and young people who need to be placed in foster families come into the care of the state for different reason. These mostly relate to the circumstances surrounding their lives such has parental addiction, parental mental health difficulties, victims of neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Other children and young people have come to Ireland unaccompanied by a related adult. Tusla is the statutory agency with responsibility for Child Protection.
Children and Young people in care have the same needs as every child, including to be fed, clothed, safe, warm, love, opportunities to learn, play and to flourish,
Children and Young People who come into care have usually experienced some disruption and or trauma within their life. This can impact their development and their sense of safety and trust in the world and the people around them. Our foster families and staff are provided with the training and support to enable them to understand and empathise with the child and respond to them in ways that meet their needs.
Types of Fostering
Emergency Place of Safety (EPS)
Five Rivers Fostering operates a nationwide Emergency Place of Safety Service on behalf of Tusla. We have families who are on call night times and over the weekends. If the Gardai or Tusla come across children and young people who need a place of safety outside of normal office hours they can make contact with Five Rivers Fostering Social worker on call who will undertake a risk assessment and look to match the young person with one of our emergency families. These placements are very temporary. EPS families are usually open to considering welcoming a wide range of children into their home for short periods. It is important to be non-judgemental, and able to offer warmth, comfort and a welcome to children who have experienced a difficult time. Helping children to feel safe is very important.
Respite Care
Respite foster Carers are families who are available to care for children for short planned time periods. This can be a huge support to children and young people’s permanent Carers. Five Rivers Fostering is always looking for people who can provide regular respite care. We are especially keen to recruit families who would be able to provide breaks to children with disabilities or additional needs. Relevant training and support is provided. If you think you would like to foster but cannot commit full time at this stage this might be a good option. If you think you could commit to caring for a young person regularly maybe a weekend a month or every two weeks then respite fostering might be a good way for you to make a difference to the life of a young person.
Short Term Foster Care
Most children referred into fostering are referred on a short-term basis. Children/young people are placed with foster families for a short period time while their needs are assessed or until they return home to their birth family. Short term placements can range from a few days to a few months.
Long Term Foster Care
Often times children/young people need to remain in care for a longer period of time (in excess of one year). Many of these placements begin as short term placements. Children/young people placed in long term foster care will need a foster family until they are at least 18 years old.
Sibling Groups
As much as possible we aim to place siblings together in one foster family. If this is not possible we place them with foster families who live in close proximity to one another.
Parent & Child Placements
Some families care for young mothers (under 18 years) and their babies. Their main role is to support the young person and help them develop the skills they need to care for themselves and their baby.
Children With Additional Needs
Some children in foster care will have additional needs. There is a broad range from mild learning disability to children who may have more profound needs in terms of physical disabilities, learning disabilities and complex medical needs.
We are always looking for families to care for children with additional needs. Additional supports and relevant training is provided. Some families provide respite/ holiday care to children with complex needs. This is a great support to them and their families.
Supports We Offer
Five Rivers Fostering prides itself on the provision of wrap-around support for children and foster families. We believe support should be provided at the earliest point so that where possible difficulties are resolved while they are small and relatively manageable.
As a Five Rivers Fostering Foster Carer, you will enjoy the following support:
Foster Care Peer Support
At Five Rivers Fostering we place great emphasis on people learning form others experiences as foster carers. To promote this informal support to one another we organise various coffee mornings and family days throughout the year.
Education Workers
Five Rivers Fostering currently have an educational psychologist as well as an education support worker as part of their team. Our educational psychologist can support children/young people both in the school and at home through the completion of educational assessments as well as direct one to one work. Our education support worker works directly with children/young people to support them in school as well as guide them in relation to their education options.
Fostering Allowance
Finally, there is also an allowance provided to families to cover the costs of providing food, shelter, transport, clothing and education to a child in your care. This allowance is not considered as an income for tax purposes and should not affect any social welfare entitlements or tax credits that you are currently claiming.
Dedicated Fostering Link Social Worker
As a Five Rivers foster carer you and your family will have a dedicated fostering link social worker. This person will be there to provide ongoing support, guidance and information. Your social worker will get to know you and your family and will play an important role in looking at matching your family with a child or young person that they believe could thrive within your family. When you have a child/young person join your family, your social worker will visit you regularly as well as keep in contact by phone to provide support. Our social workers have manageable caseloads which means that they are able to provide high levels of support and really get to know you and your family. Our social workers are also fully qualified and registered with CORU. Five Rivers Ireland invest in training and development of our social workers to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge needed to do their job. Our social workers have the support of a team leader and Principal Social Worker who are also there for back up support to our foster families and to ensure that all of the relevant standards are being met.
Speech & Language Therapist & Occupational Therapist
We have recently welcomed a speech and language therapist onto our staff team. We also have access to Occupational Therapy on a consultation basis.
Therapy
We have a range of therapists working as part of our team such as play therapists, Marte Meo attachment therapists and psychotherapists. These can work with adults and/or children/young people.
Psychology
We currently have a counselling psychologist as part of our team, who specializes in both counselling and clinical psychology. Counselling or therapy can be provided to foster carers, foster children as well as birth children of foster families, as it is needed. Consultation is also available.
Social Care Workers
At Five Rivers we have a team of highly qualified dedicated social care workers across the country to work with our families, and children and young people. The supports they provide include individual work with foster carers, children in care and supports to birth children. They also run groups with some of our young people and are involved in training across the organisation.
Training
Training is really important for all foster carers. There is our 3 day Foundations for Fostering training which provides an excellent introduction to prospective foster carers. This covers important information such as the legal aspects of fostering, responsibilities of foster carers, working with Tusla, birth parents and other agencies to support children. Five Rivers Foundations for Fostering has also been adapted to reflect current research and best practice, including information about child development, attachment and caring for children who have experienced trauma. It is important that foster families continue to avail of training throughout their fostering journey. Five Rivers Ireland has an excellent programme of training for foster carers and staff. This includes a blend of in-person and online training. Training is provided by our excellent in-house trainers as well as by specially selected trainers. Examples of training include Children First Training, Social Media, First Aid, , preparation for independence, Trauma and attachment in fostering and Dyadic Developmental Practice. For more information about Five Rivers Training please contact us
24 Hour on call
Five Rivers Foster families are never on their own. All foster carers with Five Rivers Fostering have access to a 24-hour on-call service whereby they can contact the on-call social worker to discuss any concerns.
