'We don't class this as a foster home, they're part of the family, they're not the foster children'

As National Fostering Week continues, a mother and daughter outline to Noel Baker how they went from strangers to a forever family

In Ireland, some 3,984 foster carers look after 5,265 children, accounting for the vast majority of children in the care system. File photo

Helena can pinpoint the moment she realised she had formed a pure connection with the children who had come into her home. "I could tell you a moment but I'd be mortified if you print it," she laughs. Ah, go on.

"I hate feet," she says, before explaining how one night she had trimmed her foster son's toenails, almost without thinking. "My husband just said one day 'you cut his toenails' and I was like 'Oh my God, I love the bones of him'".