Care Questions Answered
Find answers to questions you might have about care
If you need help or advice about being in care, or have questions that we have not answered here, you can request an EPIC Advocate.
Sometimes if there are difficulties at home or if your parents are not able to look after you and keep you safe, you might go and live in a new home with people who can care for you. This is called care. Children and young people in care are looked after by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. There are lots of reasons why you might need go into care, and whatever they are, it is really important to know that they are not your fault.
If you are taken into care, you will get care placement. Your care placement can be:
1. Foster Care Placement
This is living with a foster family that care for children and look after you in their home.
2. Relative Foster Care Placement
This is living with a family member who will care for you and look after you in their home. It might be your grandparent, an aunt, uncle or sibling, or another member of your family. It could even be a friend of your birth mum or dad.
3. Residential Care Placement
This is living in a house with other young people who are in care, with trained social care staff who look after you. You can learn more about residential care in this Guide written by young people in care: Our_Guide_to_Help_You.
4. Special Care Placement
If you are very vulnerable, and need some extra support, you may be placed in special care where you will get extra support and therapeutic services. This is usually a short-term arrangement in a safe environment where staff will focus on your individual needs.
Tusla, also known as the Child and Family Agency, was setup in 2014 and is the State agency responsible for improving the wellbeing and outcomes for all children in Ireland. Tusla is responsible for providing supports and services to families and protecting children and young people, including children and young people in care. When you are taken into care, you will have a Social Worker. It is the Social Worker’s job to make sure that you have all the support and help you need while in your care placement.
A decision can be made by your parents or by a Judge that it is not safe for you at home and therefore care is the best option for you.
Voluntary Care: Voluntary care is when your parents agree with Tusla that the best option for you is to be taken into care. In some cases, parents are unable to cope due to illness or other problems, and they may agree to their children being taken into care. In such cases while Tusla has care of you, it must consider your parents’ wishes as to how your care is provided. Tusla must provide you with a care placement for as long as needed.
Care Orders: There are a number of ways that the Tusla work with children. They may apply to the courts for a child to be placed in care – this is called a care order. There are different types of care orders that Tusla can request from a Judge:
An emergency care order which is for a maximum of 8 days.
An interim care order which is for a maximum of 29 days, but it can be extended.
A full care order which can continue up to age 18.
An interim special care order which is for a maximum of 28 days, but it can be extended.
A special care order which is a maximum of 6 months, but it can be extended.
While you are in care you will be looked after by either your foster family or by the staff in residential care. Your Social Worker will discuss big decisions about your care with you while you are in care. You should always be included in decisions made about you while you are living in care.
The decision about where you will live will be made by Tusla. Your Social Worker will talk to you about this. Your Social Worker will try and find someone in your family first before they decide to place you anywhere else.
Yes. All children and young people in care should have a Social Worker.
If you don’t have an allocated Social Worker, you can contact EPIC. You can call us on 01 8727661, email info@epiconline.ie or Request an Advocate.
A care plan is the plan about your care that your Social Worker prepares. It includes your care placement, your access arrangements made between you and your parents, and your educational arrangements. It will also look at your health and emotional needs. Your Social Worker should talk to you about your care plan.
You have rights if taken into care. TUSLA has a duty to make sure that all decisions about your care are made in your best interests. You have the right to have your views heard when decisions are being made about you being in care.
Learn more about your rights in care.
A Child in Care Review meeting takes place typically once every six months for the first two years of being placed in care and usually once a year after that. A Child in Care Review meeting will bring together you and a number of professionals such as your Social Worker and your Guardian Ad Litem – if you have one, and your foster carers if you are living with a foster family. Your birth mum and dad might also attend.
The Child in Care Review aims to review your care placement and plan your future care, for example, decisions about access to family and education.
Yes. You can go to your Child in Care Review with your Social Worker, and they will tell you when the Review meetings are taking place. You should also be given a Child in Care Review form before this meeting, so you have time to complete it.
Yes. You should know and understand the key points in your care plan, and you can ask your Social Worker, foster carer or a residential care staff member to explain your care plan if anything is not clear to you.
You can bring parents, teachers, counsellors, foster carers, or other people working with you to the meeting. You can also request that an EPIC Advocate goes to the meeting with you.
Request an EPIC Advocate
Yes, when you are in care you can keep in touch with your family and friends. Tusla must make sure that you have contact with family relatives.
If you are not happy about something you can speak to your Social Worker, parent, teacher or any adult that you trust about the issue you have. This can mean that your opinion is heard and a solution to your issue might be found. If a solution is not found, you can make a Tusla Tell Us complaint. The Complaints Officer will then investigate your complaint and come back to you with a response.
Visit the TUSLA website for more information about how you can make a complaint.