Tusla Child and Family Agency will be hosting public events for anyone interested in becoming a foster carer on Thursday, October 17. The events will take place in Waterford and Wexford, and for those who cannot make it on this day but are interested in fostering, the organisation encourages getting in touch through email. 

There can be a myriad of reasons for why a child has been placed in the foster system. A foster carer can give this child a home for a period of time under safe conditions. 

These events are an excellent opportunity for people to get involved in fostering and offer help where they can. Over the day, there will be two separate time periods, one which runs from 11 am to 1 pm and another later on in the day from 7 pm to 9 pm.

For those who live in or are travelling to Waterford, this event will be held in Woodlands Hotel and Leisure Centre, while the event in Wexford will be held in the Riverside Park Hotel. Dates and time will be the same for both locations. 

Looking forward to launching our national Foster Care campaign 2019 Friday. Foster Care is more than sharing your home – it’s supporting a whole family with your ‘family’ #tuslafostering We are fortunate that so many consider this as a way of giving #jointhem @tusla thank you https://t.co/1m0YtEmNle

— Bernard Gloster (@BernardGloster) October 9, 2019

Recently, Tusla Child and Family Agency released their annual report for 2018, highlighting the increase in safety and regulation within the fostering system. The document states, “90% of approved Foster Carers have a Link Social Worker, which has increased from 75% in 2014. […] The implementation of a new practice model called Signs of Safety which includes a more collaborative and consistent way of working with children and their families.”

In August 2019, Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care Board (HSCR) and charities such as Adoption UK called for members of the LGBT+ community to consider becoming foster carers or adopters.

Director of the Fostering Network in Northern Ireland, Kathleen Toner said, “Foster carers play a vital role in transforming the lives of the children in their care. Across Northern Ireland, we need hundreds of more foster families and are therefore urging those from the LGBT+ community to consider whether they could foster. There are already many fantastic LGBT+ foster carers, proving the sexual orientation is not a factor which impacts on whether you can foster or not […].”