'I was only 19 when Tusla told me to go, and I was thrown on the scrap heap'

There is no statutory requirement for the State to look after children in care once they reach 18. Until that changes, vulnerable people like Aine Gough Forde will suffer

Áine Gough Forde lost her aftercare place after she was forced to drop out of full-time education. Picture: Moya Nolan

A 22-year-old woman who has been warned by doctors that she could die because of her severe anorexia says she was forced to leave the aftercare system as she was too ill to complete her education.

The aftercare system is the support available for young people who leave the foster care system when they turn 18. While it is available until people turn 23, it requires young people to remain in education in order to meet the criteria.

However, shortly after leaving foster care, Áine Gough Forde’s weight plummeted from 73kg to 48kg in less than two years. This dramatic weight loss meant made it difficult for her to continue her studies.

She was forced to drop out of full-time education but, by doing so, she lost her aftercare place as a result.

“When that happened, social workers said ‘you can’t stay here’ because I couldn’t go to college. I was too sick, but I loved the course.

“People forget that you’re not in care for nothing. So, there was trauma there that was not dealt with. I did not get the support I needed”.

“Social workers told me to leave the college altogether because I missed so much because I was sick, and they said they were not going to financially support me or house me anymore because I couldn’t attend class”.

“They stopped giving me my allowance of €300 per week” she told the Irish Examiner.

Forced to abandon her dream of becoming a childcare worker, Áine was also now left adrift without any state support.

She self-referred to Epic (Empowering People in Care). The group works with those in foster care, relative care, residential care, high support, special care, children detention schools, those preparing to leave care, aftercare, and those with care experience.

They helped her secure short-term accommodation while under the medical care of a multidisciplinary team in a hospital in Dublin.

'It is a big shock to the system when you leave care and you’re on your own, but I had no choice,' Áine says. Picture: Moya Nolan

“If it wasn’t for my Epic worker, I would be on the streets. It was me who had to secure their support, nobody helped me with that” she said.

“With no money, I had to go looking for places to rent privately after Tusla said I had to go. I could not find anywhere because of the lack of accommodation and the prices.

“It is a big shock to the system when you leave care and you’re on your own, but I had no choice. They put me out. I’m just devastated at how my life has turned out. “

I was only 19 when Tusla told me to go, and I was thrown on the scrap heap

Ms Forde has also spoken in harrowing detail of her life in the care system. She was taken into care when she was 16-years-old — she was self-harming and later diagnosed with anorexia, which was brought on by childhood trauma.

She was moved 14 times between foster families, residential units, and aftercare centres. 

“Life was hard enough before going into care” she said. “But being in care only amplified things. I was fired across the foster care system, I had 14 placements in less than four years from the age of 16.

“Social workers changed regularly, and I ran away several times.

There was no consistency or stability, and I never had my problems dealt with while in State care

The latest publication from the Child Law Project (CLP) contains 70 reports on various aspects of the country's care system.

In one case, a judge warns of a “tsunami about to reach shore” over the shortage of special care placements for vulnerable children.

While the lack of supports for children in care — as well as their foster carers — has been regularly highlighted, there is also a chronic shortage of suitable placements for children.

There have also been several damning reports from aftercare leavers who have described the system as “broken”.

'No statutory requirement'

The CEO of Don Bosco Care, Terry Dignam, said the aftercare system is not a statutory-based requirement on the State and that’s the main problem.

“The likes of Tusla, the child and family agency, they look after children until they are 18. After that, there is no statutory requirement to look after anyone over 18.

“Until the Department of Children changes it, so then these stories will continue.

“We are supporting young people through Don Bosco and Epic, but this is the same issue that keeps coming up — the aftercare leavers are over 18 and there is no legal basis for them to be cared for.

Work is being done in this area, but we are finding issues all the time

"Young people coming out of care, they are 18, they barely have life skills and accommodation is a huge issue in this sector too”.

The latest statistics from Tusla show that, at the end of Q2 2024, there were 5,804 children in care.

• 488 were in residential care (includes 15 in special care);
• 244 were in other care placements (includes disability units, drugs and alcohol rehabilitation units, mental health units, detention centres, hospital, supported lodgings, special emergency arrangements).
• The remainder of children were placed in a foster care setting. 

At the end of Q2 2024, there were 2,915 young people in receipt of aftercare services.

Of these:

• 1,570 were aged between 18-20 years;
• 606 were aged between 21-22 years;
• 739 were younger than 18 years of age.

“The system for children in care here is a mess,” said Ms Forde. 

“I feel for any kids who struggle with their mental health in aftercare, because they will not get the supports they need.

I came out of care worse

"I also asked Tusla’s aftercare system to fund me for private counselling, but they didn’t. Nothing was done really to help with my trauma, and it spiralled into self-harming and anorexia. 

"So many kids run away while in care, or they are sent from one placement to another. You can’t build on attachments or feel safe or settled.

“In care, I felt all over the place — as well as being controlled by social workers”.

'No proper childhood'

She said she feels “completely let down by the State” as she struggles to find long-term accommodation.

“I had no proper childhood” she said. “The State did not support me — they just put me into care and that fell apart.

"I’m very sick now, my psychiatrist and dietitian are very concerned for my health, and I’m expected to find proper housing like this.

“I was diagnosed with anorexia in March this year. Food is the only thing I can control in my life. Everything else is out of control, I’m in short-term accommodation and I feel I have no ground underneath me.

The minute you finish your education you’re gone from care. You don’t get a payment, and you have nowhere to live

“Foster care wasn’t perfect, but at least I had a roof over my head and pocket money of €40 a month — but that was all cut off.”

The young woman had completed her Level 1 and 2 certificates in Childcare when she became ill.

“I had already been self-harming from around 16,” she said. “But my sickness progressed into an eating disorder.

“I just couldn’t stop. I was in so much pain mentally. I knew it wasn’t normal, but I had no one to turn to.

"I would look at myself and say ‘Jesus Christ’, but then I just can’t believe what people are telling me about my weight. I just think everyone is lying”.

“I was in hospital many times from self-harming” she said.

“I can’t eat now, and I have had to be force fed in hospital several times.

“My nails are broke; my back is covered in hair because I’m so thin, and my joints are sore. My periods have stopped too. It’s a horrible way to live you’re trapped in your head.

There was no way I could finish my two-year course, but you have to be studying to stay in the aftercare unit and I couldn’t do that

I’m currently attending a day hospital and have recently succeeded in getting private therapy once a week. But I’ve had to do all of this on my own”.

The young woman said she is trying to overcome her eating disorder using the supports around her, but she wanted to highlight the reality of state care.

“I left care at 19 with nothing. The whole system is a joke, I am left carrying a heavy burden. I just want to have my own base, to feel some permanency, and then I believe I can really work hard on myself.

“I really need my own place for stability."

A spokesperson for Tusla said: “Tusla does not comment on individual cases, this is to protect the privacy of the children and families we work with. 

"When a child or family enters into a relationship with a public service, such as Tusla, they are entitled to expect that information generated in that relationship is treated in confidence and remains private.

"This is critically important in the subject matters which Tusla is involved.” 

'I left care at 19 with nothing. The whole system is a joke, I am left carrying a heavy burden,' Áine adds. Picture: Moya Nolan

The Department of Children said: “Upon reaching the age of 18, a young person in the care of Tusla is deemed to have left care."

The Child Care Act (Amended) 1991 sets out that where Tusla is providing assistance to a person in accordance with an aftercare plan by arranging for the completion of education and by contributing to maintenance while completing education, and that person attains the age of 21 years, Tusla may continue to provide that assistance until the completion of the course of education or the end of the academic year during which the person attains the age of 23, whichever is the earlier.

In addition, care leavers may also be entitled to a number of additional financial supports in respect of education — including the Susi grant (which is payable at the higher rate for care leavers) and the Tusla Dormant Accounts funded Bursary scheme. 

Care leavers not engaged in education and not in employment are eligible for full Jobseekers' Allowance (€220, rising to €232 per week from January 2024) rather than the reduced rate, provided that they were in the care of Tusla for 12 months prior to their 18th birthday.

Figures from the National Suicide research foundation show that, in 2021, there were 12,661 self-harm presentations to emergency departments in Ireland by 9,533.

One in every 510 people had a presentation to a hospital as a result of self-harm

Women aged 15 to 19 years had the highest rate of self-harm, and one in every 113 girls in this age had a self-harm presentation to hospital in 2021.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s eating disorder association Bodywhys has warned of a 19.5% increase in the number of people accessing support services since 2022.

- If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.