According to statistics released to Aontú TD Paul Lawless, there are 149 children in state care in County Mayo, with the vast majority (144) in foster placements. The data, released to Deputy Lawless by Tusla, shows that there are 100 approved foster carers in the county.
Speaking today, Deputy Lawless said: “We are seeing a sharp increase in the number of children referred to Tusla each year, with approximately 100,000 referred per annum at the moment. Now while a portion of these referrals are closed without action and may have been the result of vexatious referrals, there is still a high demand for foster and residential placements across the country and an emerging over-reliance on unregulated emergency accommodation for some vulnerable children for whom foster placements can’t be found. In Mayo there are five children in State care who are not in foster placements, so I will be writing to Tusla to find out what specific arrangements those children are living under”
“For many years we have not had a proper effort by the government to increase the number of foster carers in the State. There are 100 foster carers in Mayo, looking after 144 children. Some of these foster carers endured about fifteen years without any increase in the Foster Carers Allowance until a few weeks before the last general election. Up until last year foster parents were not getting the back to school allowance for the children under their care – this was hugely discriminatory and I’m glad to see it has been reversed. Foster carers are also left high and dry when it comes to pension entitlements and this is something I will be raising with the Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary in the coming weeks”.
“Another issue that needs to be tackled is the issue of aftercare. This is a payment made to young people after they reach adulthood and leave the care system. It discriminates between those who seek third level education and those who do not. I think aftercare supports need to be put on a level footing for all young people leaving care regardless of whether they’re in education or not. When it comes to fostering, the government should be doing everything possible to encourage more people to become foster carers, so that we have placements for all the children who need them”, concluded Lawless,
