Following on from The Clare Champion’s series of articles about parents of children in care, Nicola Corless speaks to people involved in foster care about the system and the fostering experience in the county

LOW staffing levels in Clare’s foster care system could lead to gaps in the vetting of prospective carers, according to a Health Service Executive (HSE) worker in the area.
Following a recent claim that a child in the south of the country was placed with a foster carer who had a number of criminal convictions, a senior HSE staff member did not rule out the possibility of a similar situation arising in Clare.
While vetting of foster carers is described as “vigorous”, fostering team leader, Carmel Keane points out that because of the small number of staff and the large workload, “there are bound to be gaps”.
“We are obliged to seek garda clearance in relation to all persons over 18 in the foster carer’s home. However, garda clearance only records convictions. Inappropriate contact with a child might not show up when the garda clearance form comes back. There can be soft information in a community about an individual, which could escape our attention. This situation applies to any person working with children; teachers, social workers, childcare workers, scout leaders or sports teachers. It is a complex business and the public may not realise this fully,” she explained.
“The fostering team in Clare consists of three full-time staff and one social worker, who works four days. We have responsibility for recruitment, vetting, training and support once families are up and running. There are bound to be gaps,” Ms Keane acknowledged.
The non-replacement of a member of staff has also resulted in a waiting list for assessments of suitability in cases where a child is placed with relatives in emergency situations, she claimed.
“There can be children placed with relations in an emergency where it is only possible to do a garda check at the time of placement, the assessment of suitability could be down the line. Due to a staff member not being replaced after recently retiring, there is a waiting list for these assessments,” Ms Keane claimed.
Vetting of non-family and family foster carers can take between four and six months and is followed by mandatory training before a child is placed with them.
“The vetting of foster families is vigorous. We take up professional or employer and personal references, meet referees in person, we get medical clearance, we check for addiction problems, mental health problems or physical problems, we do at least six interviews with prospective families, we look at relationship stability and the ability to look after their own children, as well as another person’s child, openness and honesty, etc. This culminates in a competency report that is presented to the local fostering approvals panel. Sometimes applicants are not passed or deferred,” Ms Keane explained.
A quality inspection was carried out in recent years on the service in Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary, which Ms Keane says, “has meant that we have had to devise good working protocols to which we adhere in practice. We know what we have to do but sometimes capacity is a significant issue and I believe with the on-going cutbacks within the HSE, this will only get worse.”
A foster carer in the county has also criticised caseloads of social workers responsible for dealing with foster children and foster families, saying the volume of work results in children not getting the attention they need and foster parents being under-supported.
“The social workers are doing an extremely hard job. Their caseloads are such that they can’t split themselves into four. It cannot be done…Kids are not getting the attention they need and sometimes the kids end up having two, three or four social workers in a short time. They are definitely underfunded. Definitely. Foster parents are under supported but I understand the restraints on social workers.”

Little victories make it all worthwhile

For foster parent Tom, not his real name, it is the small triumphs that sustain him. He has been fostering for four years and for him, it is a way of life that challenges more often than it rewards. This makes the little accomplishments, virtually indistinguishable as they may be to an outsider, seismic to Tom and others like him across the county.
“It is very difficult work. It is not work really, more like a vocation. It is the little victories that make it all worthwhile. You never have a complete victory but when you get a small victory, all the other stuff becomes worthwhile,” the Clare resident says.
“A victory can be as simple as the first time they give you a hug good night because these kids are dealing with social workers and guards and their defence mechanisms are 10 times as high as an ordinary child,” he continues.
“Some come from very damaged backgrounds. Most of them have certain problems. The child comes home with a good result in a test and they can’t wait to come home and show you. That is a victory for you and the child,” Tom explains.
Developing a bond with the child can be difficult, he says.
“Some kids you can bond with in minutes. For others, it takes weeks. It is tough when a child first goes into care because the child is resentful for being taken from their home. You have to deal with that anger. You are the focus of that because you are there. But when the child starts making new friends, if they have a sleepover say, for some of the kids it is like winning the lottery because they might never have had friends or sleepovers because their family may have been known as trouble or whatever,” he outlines.
Tom and his partner have two children of their own and foster other children in long-term and short-term care. Fostering can be a delicate balance and introducing other children into your home can cause tension.
“This child has come into your family space. Of course there is going to be resentment but every family has resentment. There is some resentment between brothers or sisters in most houses. It is in ordinary families and that is how we function,” Tom surmises.
“I’m from a comfortable background. My son gets anything that he wants, more or less. He sees now that there is a different side to life than Disney and PSPs and all that. Before we fostered, we discussed it with our older child to find out how he’d feel about it. I feel that is very important,” he reflects.
While deciding to foster wasn’t a particularly difficult decision for Tom and his partner, because as children both had friends who were fostered, others were not convinced it was the right move.
“People told me I was mad when I started. ‘You’re mad’, that is exactly what my mum said. I suppose it is a shock,” Tom concedes.
“A lot of people don’t understand what is going on in society. It is easy to look at a newspaper and think ‘that is terrible’ but then turn the page. People have to get off their arses. People don’t understand other people’s situations and don’t realise there are kids caught in the middle,” he says.
While the temptation is there to judge the parents of children in care, this is not the approach Tom takes.
“In my opinion, there is no such thing as a bad parent. That is my opinion. There are people who are not capable of parenting. Human nature means that parents will always try to do the best for their kids but there are parents who are incapable of it,” he believes.
Despite this, a foster carer must always aim to prepare the children for a reunion with their parents.
“Kids come into care with divided loyalties. They may come from homes where parents are separated already and they may have siblings. Then they get a new family on top of that. I have to do all I can to be stable, keep everything constant. The ultimate goal is to get that family unit back together. There will be things you don’t agree with but that is the goal,” he explains.
“It doesn’t make it any easier on you when they do leave but it is about getting the family unit together. It makes it easier for the kids if you have a good relationship with their mum and dad,” Tom continues.
Indeed, the parting, regardless of the situation with the birth parents, brings heartbreak.
“It is extremely hard to say goodbye. You bond with the kids and they bond with you and your kids. We had a little fella with us for a short while and when he left, you know we miss him,” Tom reveals.
Despite the inevitable parting pain, Tom believes you can’t hold anything back.
“You treat them like your own child. If they need something, therapy, special needs assessments, anything, I go full bore until the child gets it,” he claims. “I can’t think ‘I’m not going to get emotionally involved’. I can’t do that. It is not fair to the children.
“I don’t think there is anything that would stop me fostering at this point. I have these children until they are 18. If they want to stay after that, they can. You have to treat them exactly as you’d treat your own kids. You have to battle for them the way you would with your own kids. What we do is when we go on holidays, everyone goes, together, for family functions, everyone goes. If our children are going somewhere with us, then the foster children go as well,” he states.
A fear, however, for all foster parents is that there may be false claims of abuse made against them.
“You have to think carefully about simple things that you would do automatically with your own kids but you get training in this before you start. The Irish Foster Carers Association holds meetings and runs courses to support foster parents and show them that they are not alone in the problems they face. There are lots of other supports within it too, like in relation to insurance and advocacy,” Tom outlines.
As someone who sees children who have suffered neglect and often abuse, Tom believes firmly that people should report their suspicions about these issues to the relevant authorities.
“I’d want to have a clean conscience. If a child was being neglected and I didn’t report it and if that child was found dead or something a couple of years later, I’d want to know I did everything I could. If I was wrong, then I’d apologise but my conscience would be clear,” he says.
For Tom, fostering has to be whole hearted and his reason for fostering children is simple.
“I feel the stronger people in society should take care of the weaker people in society. The kids coming into care are the weakest people in society. Someone has to step up to bat for them,” he concludes.

Challenging experience for all

Some people believe fostering children is going to be easy but taking a child to live in your home is wrought with challenges, according fostering team leader in Clare Carmel Keane.
“There is a common misconception that fostering is the same as babysitting or childminding. Fostering involves a commitment to caring 24 hours a day for someone else’s child,” she points out.
“Deciding to foster is a big decision because it has a huge effect on family life and it is a big emotional commitment. You are caring for another person’s child in your home on a full-time basis,” explains Ms Keane.
Foster parents, according to Ms Keane, must be strong, optimistic, patient and able to successfully interact with the child’s birth parents in a non-judgemental way.
“Most birth parents do care for their children but they are going through a crisis, so foster parents need to be tolerant and understanding,” she says.
“There is a stereotype out there when it comes to parents of children in care but it isn’t always right. It affects all classes. There are a lot of modern pressures on people. Children come into care for a lot of reasons, including mental health issues, addiction, learning disabilities, poor family support, young parents with a lot of young children, inability to cope, relationship difficulties like domestic violence or maybe an unexpected pregnancy,” she explains.
“Crisis situations can affect anyone. Short-term fostering can give people a breather and it shouldn’t always be perceived as a negative thing. The parents haven’t necessarily harmed or neglected their children; it might be that they are just in a difficult situation. The HSE childcare department tries to help everyone in the situation. Children need to be reassured that their birth parents care for them but they might not be able to look after them,” she adds.
According to Ms Keane, fostering can be an extremely traumatic experience for children and birth parents alike but foster carers are given support to deal with this.
“The foster parents are given lots of professional help in carrying out their job. Foster parents need to be committed. It is a family commitment. The applicants need to commit to the vetting process and it is quite stringent and it has to be quite stringent to protect vulnerable children,” she claims.
“Foster parents go through a short intensive programme, which deals with child neglect issues and strategies to manage children or parents that might be upset and to attend meetings about the child and to make decisions in the interest of the child,” Ms Keane states.
The beginning of a fostering period can be especially complicated for children, birth parents and foster parents alike.
“Children can have divided loyalties when they are separated from their birth family and this can be difficult for everyone involved. Sometimes it can be difficult to be patient with children who are upset. The children might be educationally behind because they have missed out on school. Children might not talk because they might not know what to say. What keeps people going is seeing the children take steps to change that. The children in the family play a key role in helping the foster children to settle in. The children of the house need to be patient too. It is not easy to share your house. There can be a settling in period but these problems are usually short term,” Ms Keane says.
While there are challenges and the system is far from perfect, Ms Keane believes fostering plays a key role in society and in the development of children who are taken into care.
“Being in an ordinary family is the next best thing to being with your own family. This helps the children to feel accepted and to get over an upset that may have occurred in their birth family. One of the benefits of fostering is that the child should experience attention and encouragement in foster care, so that they then are more resilient,” Ms Keane reflects.
While the challenges may put some people off, the number of people in Clare expressing interest in becoming foster parents has actually risen significantly in the past year. Whether this is because of increased coverage or because people now have more time isn’t clear.
“There are lots of reasons people get into fostering. Some people identify with families under stress and they want to help and most of all, they want to help the children. Children bring out the best in people and a lot of Irish families have a tradition of extending a welcome to children who are in a difficult situation. There can be caring or altruistic element to it. It is kind of a community thing too,” Ms Keane concludes.