Health board urgently seeks foster carers as numbers fall

A CAMPAIGN to urgently find new foster carers was launched by the East Coast Area Health Board (ECAHB) yesterday as numbers fall throughout the country.

The campaign entitled Could you Change the Life of a Child or Adolescent?” hopes to increase the pool of foster carers.

The Irish Foster Care Association said that the number of foster families is continuing to fall nationwide and health boards have been forced for the first time to advertise for carers.

Recent studies have shown almost 40% of foster carers are related to the children they foster and only 228 foster families are providing care in the ECAHB.

Foster team leader Renée English said: “We urgently need to find people that enjoy being with, and caring for, children and adolescents.

“If you could care for and share your home and family life with a child or children who are unable to live with their own family, then fostering may be for you,” she said.

Ms English said there is a false perception that a foster-carer has to be married, young and working in the home.

“This simply isn’t the case. We’re looking for people from all walks of life.

“The most important thing is they have a commitment to caring for children,” she said.

Catherine Robinson fostering team leader in the health board said: “We need to find carers for children of all ages, from birth right through to late teenage years. We need placements for children from a variety of cultural, racial and ethnic backgrounds and circumstances,” she said.

Health boards provide training and financial support for foster- carers and the ECAHB campaign is promoting the fact that most people are eligible to foster.

Up to 4,000 children are in State care at any one time. As many as 3,600 of these are in foster care. The remainder are in supported lodgings, community homes or in residential care.