‘Local support for local children is priceless’

The ongoing need for more foster carers in Cavan and Monaghan is being highlighted this month, as National Fostering Awareness Month continues.

“Location matters,” National Lead for Tusla Fostering, Jacqueline Smyth explains.

“As someone who lives in Abbeylara [Co Longford] I know, for example, how passionate the children who play for Mullahoran feel about their club so it’s important that when a child is placed into temporary foster care that they can still go to football training or their own school as normal.

“I feel very passionate about the fact that these are our Cavan and Monaghan kids and keeping them with us is one of my biggest priorities. They should stay near people who love and care for them,” she added.

There are currently 207 foster carers in Cavan-Monaghan and Jacqui described as “phenomenal” the fact that 95 per cent of children in care in this region are being looked after by foster parents.

“It’s one of the highest in the country,” she pointed out, “and it shows the strong tradition of foster care in the locality.

“What we want to with this awareness campaign is to keep it that way.

“Sometimes we might think ‘this is a Dublin problem’ but local support for local children is priceless.”

National Fostering Awareness Month aims to raise public awareness about the ongoing need for foster carers and to encourage more people from diverse backgrounds to open their homes to vulnerable children.

As it also celebrates current foster families, this week the Celt features interviews with Kilnaleck foster carer, Rosaleen Galligan and her daughter, Katelyn Lee, who was inspired to become a foster parent herself after growing up in a home that supported some of the most vulnerable children in society. You can read all about their personal positive fostering experience (across on page 10).

National Fostering Awareness Month also challenges common misconceptions about who is eligible to foster.

The HSE’s North-East Region, which includes counties Cavan and Monaghan, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Louth, and East Meath currently has 1,206 children in care, 93 per cent of whom (1,123 children) are in foster care.

Nationally, the number of new foster carers has increased consistently over the past three years with 606 new foster carers recruited since 2023.

In Ireland at the end of 2025, there were 5,879 children in care, which includes 150 children reported by the Service for Separated Children Seeking International Protection.

Of that total, 88 per cent of mainstream children in foster care are living with 3,782 foster carers in communities across the country.

However, more foster carers are needed, including ones from ethnic backgrounds as Tusla tries “where we can, to keep a child in care within their own culture”.

“Our message every year is simple:” Jacqueline Smyth said, “We need more foster carers.”

She says there is a “huge” demand for foster carers for children of all ages.

Ms Smyth explains: “When a child enters care and goes to live in a foster family, that family will usually not foster again for a certain length of time. This means that their home is no longer available to the next child who comes into foster care.

“Most carers will foster a maximum of two children at any one time and, each year, hundreds of children will need a foster home so, even as foster carers are recruited, they are continually required,” she said.

Tusla welcomes applications from single carers, from members of the LGBTQAI+ community, and from families with and without children. "People often believe that fostering is something that is outside their range of skills when, in fact, what foster children need most are homes that are stable and filled with kindness and love."