Tusla seeks foster families for asylum-seeking children

Foster families for asylum-seeking children are being sought by Tusla, the child and family agency.

A new campaign, which aims to recruit carers for unaccompanied children who arrive in Ireland and seek refugee status, is launched on Monday.

Tusla is looking to create a panel of carers from different cultural, religious, social and linguistic backgrounds.

This is the first dedicated public information campaign to recruit carers for this specific cohort of children and teenagers.

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As part of an EU-wide project, Ireland agreed to accept 36 unaccompanied minors from Greece.

Refugee programme

Eight young people arrived here in June 2020, and another 13 were brought to Ireland in July 2021.

Tusla is in the process of receiving another 15 children who will be arriving this month.

Other children also present at Irish borders alone, and are not part of any international refugee programme.

The children who typically present to Tusla’s Separated Children Seeking International Protection service are teenagers from Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia.

However, Tusla said it had put children of all ages, from all over the world, into care.

International protection

Since 2016, Tusla has been working with the EU relocation programme for refugee children who enter Europe via Greece, Italy, Malta and Calais.

From 2016 to 2020, 438 unaccompanied minors came into the care of Tusla.

The child and family agency had 54 separated children seeking international protection in its care at the end of July of this year.

Many unaccompanied minors arrive here as teenagers, aged 14-17.

Anyone who applies to foster these children will be subject to the same assessment procedure as other foster carers, and they will receive the same rates of pay.

Tusla also said that if the young person needed additional supports, these would be made available.

Members of the public who want to care for a child seeking international protection can visit fostering.ie, call freephone 1800 226 771 or email tusla.fostering@tusla.ie for more details.