SECOND OPINION:One-third of children in State care are fostered by relatives, but these families need a support structure designed specifically for them
THERE IS an age-old Irish tradition of relative foster care. This is where extended family provides alternative homes for children when their own parents are not able to care for them – an important option for as many as one-third of children in State care.
Many of us know stories of people who were reared for a period of time by grannies, aunts, cousins or close neighbours. But recently, this relative care has found itself at the centre of the latest childcare crisis in this State.
The recent revelations and outcry about children being placed with families, who have not yet been assessed and approved, is in danger of generating confusion about the appropriateness of this option. But it is not the option that is faulty. It is not just lack of social workers. The issue is more complex than that.
Relative or kinship care, as it is called in child welfare circles, is used increasingly in Ireland and internationally as a formal option for children in need of State care and protection.
The reasons for the huge shift in practice are varied: the demise of institutional care, a preference for fostering and, most important, a better understanding of what extended families can provide to children in need of care.
The benefits to the child are many. Children’s sense of identity is preserved, there is less stigma as they are with their own, there is a greater chance of brothers and sisters being kept together, there is less chance of a breakdown in the fostering, and slower re-entry rates to care if the child does go home.
The differences between kinship and traditional (stranger) foster homes are major and many.
First, the relative fostering arrangement usually arises out of a crisis, whereas traditional foster carers have to decide to foster and be assessed and trained before a child is placed with them.
In contrast, the childcare system recognises how special kinship care is, by permitting the child to be placed with relatives following an “initial vetting and assessment”. The current regulations governing relative care here lay down a 16-week period for the HSE to complete a fuller assessment.
This is the requirement which, it is reported, Hiqa found the HSE is not complying with.
But relative carers are more likely to live in challenging circumstances. Rearing children is resource intensive, and the relative carer, like other foster parents, needs State support if they are to do the job well.
Of course, the connections between the child, their parents and the relatives are life-long bonds, and State agency personnel are likely to be on the periphery of this network of relationships.
This is in contrast to traditional foster care where the agency workers are central to relationships.
Being peripheral is not a problem in itself, but it needs a very different approach. It is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole to expect the regular foster care system to be suitable for relative/kinship fostering. Unfortunately, as relative care has increased that is exactly what has happened. It has not worked.
The HSE faces censure for placing children with relatives who are not fully vetted and assessed. But consider it from the perspective of a relative trying to help their extended family with an investigation/assessment process hanging over them, while they are adapting to the difficult task and changes of caring for their vulnerable relations.
Many relatives are fearful of being seen as inadequate or needy if they ask for the necessary supports required to get on with the job.
It is also difficult for the child being cared for by relatives, not knowing if the agency is going to let them stay with their extended family.
There can be tensions in wider family relations because of it. It is hard enough for everyone to adapt to whatever drama or crisis led to this new family relationship, without the new arrangement being left uncertain for everyone for months and years.
Relative care can lead to good outcomes, but it is not a magic solution.
So is there a solution? Clearly, an appropriate system of vetting and assessment of relative carers is required.
Questions such as, how does the State agency know that the child will be safe, and that the particular relative home offered is the best one within the family network, need to be answered. What supports do family members need to deal with their often ambivalent emotions and to provide consistent care?
The traditional foster service case management model needs to be different for family fostering.
A tailormade best practice case management system is needed, one that keeps the child’s welfare central to every consideration, one that appreciates the strengths of potential relative carers, as well as identifying the risks, and one that provides the supports as well as the safeguards the family needs.
This requires seeing full assessment as a process that builds solidly on the initial vetting and care planning laid down in regulation.
There is a need to place greater emphasis on co-ordination of information already in the system, utilising extended family group meetings to share responsibilities for risk appraisal and support, assisting family members in working out their differences and linking relatives with other relative carers to help them adapt to their new roles.
Some changes have occurred in different parts of the country, but we need a more standardised service that is delivered regardless of where people live.
If we have learned one thing recently with the exposé of child welfare issues, it is that alternative care is never simple, and it can be even more complex when whole networks of long-standing family relationships have to be understood, assisted and managed.
Dr Valerie O’Brien is a social worker and systemic psychotherapist who works clinically and undertakes research in relative foster care. She is a college lecturer in the School of Applied Social Science, University College Dublin