Fostering Social Worker
Our social workers have a small allocation of foster families and are available to give you the support you need at the time you need it. Expect a regular visit from your fostering social worker as often as you need it.
Your fostering social worker will support you in
- Meeting any challenges that may arise
- Your therapeutic parenting support to the child
- Remembering to take care of yourself
- Facilitating your attendance at meetings, appointments, access etc., if needed.
Relationships are important to us; we will always be small so that you will feel known, supported, and valued as a key member within the Foster Care Ireland family.
Social Care Support
Foster Care Ireland’s social care support concentrates on practical aid such as
- Advice and support to adjust and adapt to a new placement
- Promoting your (as a foster carer) self-care
- Support when children are returning home to their birth families
- Life story work for children in short to long term care
- Advice and support on teen parenting
- Aftercare planning; how foster carers support young adults post-18 years of age.
Getting it right early and the first time can contribute to the stability of a placement and make a real difference.
24 Hour On Call Support
Our service includes on call support and thus
- You will never feel alone in an emergency, we are there for you every day, evening, night and weekend
- Our out-of-hours service is staffed by our team of experienced social care workers.
Knowing that you are not alone and that there is always someone at hand to advise and support can help build your confidence.
Financial Support
Fostering a child will place a demand on the household budget and this has been recognised by Government and Tusla. In line with national policy;
- You will receive a weekly tax free minimum allowance of Euro 325. The actual allowance depends on the age of the child and the circumstances associated with caring for the child.
- The allowance is to cover all of the costs involved in caring for the child such as food, clothing, education, travel etc.
- You will be entitled to apply for child benefit payment if the child is with you for more than 6 months.
Peer Support
Our foster carers have a variety of experiences to share that can help you build confidence and expertise. Their experiences are plenty; from managing the child’s return home, contact with birth families, supporting challenging behaviour, balancing the needs of foster children and birth children and much more.
- We will match you to a mentor i.e., a more experienced foster carer to support you at the beginning of your fostering journey.
- We facilitate regular support groups and training where you will get advice and support from other foster carers who can identify with your experience
- We organise events to create opportunities for foster families to create lasting friendships, have fun, relax and chat over coffee.
Training
Training is mandatory and we make huge efforts to make training easily accessible around the demands of day-to-day life and fostering. Our core training covers;
- “Foundations for Fostering” which must be completed before you are approved to be a foster carer
- “Foundations for Attachment” introduces you to the principles of DDP-informed therapeutic parenting
- “Nurturing Attachments” is a more in-depth training on attachment, trauma, self-care, and DDP-informed therapeutic parenting
- “Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy” (DDP) Level One delivered by Dr. Kim Golding, DDP Consultant
- First Aid Training.
We complete a personal development plan with you every year to review your training needs.
Children’s group
The children’s group is about building relationships through thematic workshops and adventures
- We facilitate children’s groups to facilitate birth children and fostered children coming together as one.
- This year’s theme is ‘Children’s Rights’ facilitated by our Creative Arts Group Therapist.
Advocacy Support
We will support you in;
- Understanding the needs of the child in your care
- Drawing the attention of the relevant professional service
- Ensuring their needs are understood and responded to adequately.