22 Sep 2022

Tusla Urgently Require Foster Carers

From the Tusla website:

Children and young people in your community urgently need the opportunity to be cared for in a loving and caring home. Due to the humanitarian crisis and the impact of Covid-19 on our communities, Tusla is experiencing an increased demand for all types of foster care placements

Tusla foster carers provide a safe, secure and stable home environment for the most vulnerable in our society and are a core part of ensuring children who need foster care are cared for in a loving, home environment.

We’re running a recruitment campaign to encourage people like you to consider fostering, and changing a child’s life.

Tusla Now Needs:

✔️Foster carers just like you to provide a safe and stable environment to a child in need.

✔️Foster carers from a diverse range of backgrounds.

✔️ Foster carers to assist us with short-term, emergency, longer term and respite fostering around Ireland.

Tusla is the only organisation that provides a statutory fostering service to the public.

Across Ireland some 4,124 Tusla foster carers open their homes to 5,450 children.

Tusla owes our foster carers in each county a big debt of gratitude. Our foster carers are invisible heroes.

Can I foster?

Fostering is caring for someone else’s child in your own home, providing family life for a child or young person, who for one reason or another cannot live with his or her own parents. Foster care is only considered for children in situations where they are assessed to be at risk.

Tusla currently work with foster carers who are in a same-sex relationship, are Travellers, are of African or Eastern European origin, are Muslim, have a disability, who don’t have a job currently, who rent, who are single, who are over 40, and with parents who both work.

Foster carers are a diverse group of people who come from all walks of life.

Foster carers can be:

✔️ Couples – married, co-habiting, same gender

✔️ Single people – widowed, separated, divorced

✔️ People with disabilities – provided your disability or medical condition does not prevent you from caring for a child

✔️ People with or without children

✔️ People who own their own homes, are in private rented accommodation or local authority housing

✔️ Employed / Unemployed people

✔️ Those over 40 years of age

✔️ Those who smoke

✔️ People from different cultures, ethnic or religious backgrounds – having carers from different cultures allows us to match children and young people with suitable families.

However in all cases, it is very important that:

✔️ You can provide a stable, nurturing and loving environment for children

✔️ You relate well to and have respect for children

✔️ You do not have a Garda record for violence, offences against children or other serious offences

✔️ You can demonstrate flexibility, openness and patience

✔️ You are willing to attend training courses to support your ongoing learning and skills base.

✔️ For more details on our fostering requirements click here

✔️ You must also abide by our national fostering standards.

What you need:

You can foster if you have the time and energy to make a positive difference to a child’s life. We will help equip you with the skills you will need, and provide support when you require it. Click here to view FAQ: https://bit.ly/3Ly6NgG

Fostering supports:

We understand that good support is absolutely vital to ensure that you feel confident and capable in your role. It is our job to do everything we can to help you.

We value the work foster carers do and the contributions they make to young people’s lives. We provide foster carers with a solid support system to enable them to provide a good standard of care for the children they look after.

There are two weekly rates of Foster Care Allowance:

For children aged 0 – 12yrs €325.00

For children aged 12yrs + €352.00

This allowance does not affect tax or state benefits. Tusla has a policy on the appropriate use of the fostering allowance.

In addition to the foster care allowance other supports includes:

-Regular home visits and telephone contact from your assigned fostering link worker;

-Each child in your care has a social worker who visits the child and maintains a link with the child’s birth family;

-You will be able to apply for child benefit for each child in your care;

-Support from your public health nurse if you are caring for a pre-school child;

-A comprehensive training programme pre and post approval;

-A year’s free membership to the Irish Foster Care Association; and

-Each child in foster care will have their own medical card.

Following extensive consultation Tusla has introduced a Standardised National Aftercare Allowance for young people who have been in care for 12 months prior to their 18th birthday and attending education/ accredited training. This weekly standardised allowance of €300 per week ensures equality for all care leavers engaged in training and education.

Click here to view the Guidance Document for the Implementation of the Standardised Aftercare Allowance

Training and development

Training and development We recognise that the needs of children in care will change over time. With this in mind, we actively support and promote the continuous professional development of our staff and foster carers.

Training and development is compulsory for all foster carers and all applicants will be asked to complete a fostering induction course prior to approval as a foster carer. Throughout your time as a foster carer various workshops and education opportunities will be offered to you and we hope you will ﬁnd these courses both interesting and enjoyable.

Interested?

You will find out everything you need to know here: https://bit.ly/3xFgiVG