Foster parents urgently needed
Seamus Enright
Child and family agency, Tusla, is to host a ‘Meet Foster Carers and the Tusla fostering team’ event in Cootehill this evening as part of an ongoing campaign to encourage greater uptake and dispel misconceptions about carer eligibility.
The event takes place at the Errigal Country House Hotel on Wednesday, October 23, from 7-9pm, and follows two other information events run as part of National Fostering Week, October 14-20, in Cavan Town earlier this month.
New chief executive of Tusla, Bernard Gloster, says the organisation is looking for foster carers to provide safe and stable environments for children who, due to a range of reasons, can’t live at home.
“It only takes one person to change a child’s life. I would encourage anyone who feels they can provide a stable and safe family environment for a child to think about fostering and join the 4,254 Tusla foster carers around the country that open their homes to 5,511 children.”
Across Cavan at present, 66 foster carers currently open their homes to 105 foster children.
Among them is foster carer Kathy Lynch from Bruskey.
A mum of four teenage children of her own, Kathy is currently foster mum to a two-and-a-half year old girl.
Though she is American, both of Kathy’s parents were Irish born - Sligo and Leitrim. She moved to Cavan with her family.
Giving something back
Kathy is open and honest about her motivation for becoming a foster carer. During her childhood, Kathy’s father was injured in an accident and began drinking a lot. As a result, she and her siblings were often looked after by family friends and relatives.
“So a lot of my memories of being a kid were going into other homes and seeing how a normal family sort of lived, rather than the chaos of living in my own home. My mother did her best to raise us, and my father was a good man when he wasn’t drinking. Unfortunately, as a disease, it took over. So for me, taking up foster care was, I think, a way of giving back to those who I feel gave me a chance in life.”
Tusla is the only statutory provider of foster care in the Republic of Ireland.
All foster carers are assessed on their eligibility. Tusla foster carers receive an allowance of €325 per week per child U12, and €352 per child for a child aged between 12 and 18 years-old, as well as Child Benefit entitlements. Each child in foster care has their own medical card.
Dispelling myths
Kathy says there are plenty of “myths” out there about fostering, and wholeheartedly believes that they simply serve as an excuse for people to shy away from the idea if a viable option.
She and her family started out caring for “short-term” cases, but now care for longer term cases, as well as providing respite also.
“The little lassie who came us, did so at eight months. She was supposed to be short-term at the beginning but it’s gone to long-term now with the possibility that she might still go home.”
She adds that people often consider that by fostering a child “you’re only going to bring trouble into your home”.
Kathy insists: “That’s not the case. I think that’s such a wrong attitude. Yes you have your challenges with every case that comes through the door, but you have that with any child! Even I didn’t realise all the aspects at the start. There is a lot of work, there’s no denying that, but saying that, it can be so rewarding, when you see a child benefitting from what you’re doing it’s very heartening.”