DUBLIN, August 27 (RIA Novosti) – There is a 23 percent rise in children being cared for by the Irish state since figures started to be recorded in 2007, but whether it can be linked to 2008 economic crash is unclear, Sharon Waters of the Irish Child and Family Agency told RIA Novosti.
“I wouldn’t speculate on the economic down turn. There has certainly been a year on year increase in referrals since 2007,” Waters said.
Official figures have revealed that 6,500 children are now in the care of the state which, authorities say has led directly to a serious shortage of foster carers in Ireland’s capital city of Dublin.
Answering RIA Novosti’s question how the current levels of children looked after by the state compared with the situation before 2007 Waters noted that “we don’t have historic figures that would tell us if the number of children being cared for by the state were ever higher than they are now. We are not aware if this sharp rise is being mirrored in other countries.”
She was keen to stress that the rate of child fostering in Ireland remains unusually high, but agency was still at the “start of a process” to implement an adequate level of child protection in the country.
“We do have an extraordinary rate of fostering in Ireland, which is quite unusual and more than 90 percent of children in Ireland who are in care are in foster care,” child and family expert said.
“The agency is still at the start of a process to supporting child protection in Ireland,” she added.
Waters noted that authorities are now instigating a new approach to dealing with the rise in referrals to Government agencies.
“The whole child and family agency project is a new approach to dealing with child protection and child welfare in Ireland. There is already a significant reform programme underway to try and address issues like the rise in referrals,” child welfare official elaborated.
“Our business model looks more at early intervention and proportionate responses at the start, supporting families in communities through family resource centres and hoping to steer away from a situation where a child needs to be taken into care,” Waters concluded.
