Foster care in Mid-West found to be largely compliant

TWO OF seven standards were found ‘not compliant’ in Mid-West foster care services, according to the latest inspection report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

The HIQA inspection looked at the promotion of children’s rights and identity, their diverse backgrounds and considered the quality of their individual assessments of need, including any specialist support that they required. 

The inspection also assessed how well children were matched with their foster carers, and the availability of a suitable range of local foster carers to provide good child-centred care.  

Of the seven standards assessed, two were found to be not compliant, four were substantially compliant and one was compliant. 

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The service area did not have a sufficient number of foster carers to meet demand in the area, and social workers were not always able to match children to foster carers who were best placed to meet their individual needs. 

Some foster carers were caring for higher numbers of children than they had been approved for. There were gaps in the availability of emergency placements and delays in finding suitable long-term placements for some children.

However, inspectors found some improvements had been made since the previous inspection. 

All fostering social work posts had been filled for the first time since 2019, which was leading to better levels of support for foster carers.

As well as this, it was found that assessments of children were timely, of good quality and provided a clear picture of the children’s needs.