Children removed from 11 foster homes a year
But Tusla insists carers posing threat to children are a tiny fraction of the 4,254 listed on its books
AN average of 11 foster carers have had a child or children removed from their care every year since 2015 due to child protection and welfare concerns, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Figures obtained by the MoS under the Freedom of Information Act from Tusla, the child and family agency, show that in total 52 foster carers had a child or children removed because of founded child protection and welfare concerns in the past four and a half years.
Five children were removed from their foster carers in the first half of 2019, eight removed in 2018, 15 in 2017, 14 in 2016 and 10 from foster carers in 2015.
‘Today, I stand in front of you as a survivor’
The agency says this represents a tiny fraction of the total number of 4,254 foster carers caring for children across the country.
While Tusla record the number of founded allegations, in a statement, they said data on the specific type of allegation is not collated nationally.
The agency also don’t have any statistics in relation to the number of founded concerns that ended up being investigated by the gardaí and/or resulted in court cases.
This month, a man who raped his foster daughter after plying her with alcohol received a 12-year prison sentence.
Richard Moloney, 41, of Tullaskeagh Drive, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary was found guilty by a jury of one count of rape, one count of oral rape and one count of sexually assaulting his then 16-year-old foster daughter at their Tipperary home on July 16, 2016.
Victim Ciara Monaghan waived her anonymity so Moloney could be identified.
She turned to face him in court and said: ‘Today I stand in front of you a survivor.
‘My world was turned upside down when I was raped and sexually assaulted in my own home behind closed doors,’ she told the court. ‘I thought you would be the one to walk me up the aisle,’ she said in her victim impact statement.
‘But not only did you take from me a father figure, you took from me a family – my cousins who I thought of as sisters, my aunt who I loved, my nanny and uncles. You fed them all lies... Most importantly of all, you took from me myself. You took the happy, bubbly, young girl I used to be.’ Separate information released by Tusla reveals there was also a sharp increase in the number of founded or substantiated concerns from children about their foster carers, from 25 in 2017 to 40 in 2018 – which is a rise just over 60%.
A statement from Tusla said this rise coincided with a new operational procedure, introduced in April 2017, relating to the management of allegations and serious welfare concerns against foster carers.
‘This new procedure ensured greater governance and oversight in ensuring Foster Care Committees are notified of all allegations and serious welfare concerns.
‘As such since 2017, there is greater standardisation across the
‘Standard of proof used is balance of probabilities’
country in ensuring Foster Care Committees were notified of these allegations,’ said the statement.
Tusla clarified that founded concerns means substantiated concerns.
They added: ‘Substantiation denotes Tusla’s official decision about the validity of abuse allegations, ie. founded or unfounded.
‘The standard of proof required is the civil law standard of “on balance of probabilities”.
‘In these cases, where an investigation into an allegation of abuse (sexual, physical, emotional, neglect) is made, the social work team assessing the claim believe there is credible evidence, on the balance of probabilities, to support the allegation.
‘Such allegations are comprehensively investigated by local Tusla social work teams, and reported to the local Foster Care Committee responsible for the approval of foster carers.
‘An appropriate decision is then taken as to whether a child is removed from care or allowed to stay with the family, according to what it is in the best interests of the child and only where it is appropriate and safe to do so with a safety plan in place.
‘The safety and welfare of the child is the paramount consideration.’
The agency added that if the allegations are assessed by social workers and if there is a suspicion that child abuse has occurred, gardaí are also notified.
‘In circumstances where there is an allegation relating to a child protection and or welfare concern, a formal review of the foster carers and their ability to continue caring for a particular child, or to continue as foster carers, is carried out.
‘The outcome of this review process can vary from the need to provide additional support and supervision of foster carers to a decision to remove the foster carers of the approved register of foster carers.’
Across Ireland, the agency reports that at present 4,254 foster carers open their homes to 5,511 foster children.
The agency said they don’t collate data nationally on the number of children transferred out of foster homes because of concerns of abuse.