The State's fostering services are "in a state of crisis" the national co-ordinator of the Irish Foster Care Association has said.
Ms Pat Whelan was responding to reports that children had been waiting in State residential homes for up to three years as foster placements could not be found.
"When I began fostering in 1980, parents were recruited as particular types of fosterers, whether they were long-term fosterers, short-term or respite. Now the service is in such a state of crisis that it's a matter of the phone ringing and the social worker just asking, 'Do you have a bed?'."
According to figures from the Department of Health, 126 children outside the eastern region were awaiting foster placements at the end of December.
The Department did not have figures for three health boards covered by the Eastern Regional Health Authority, however, and it was in these areas that there was the "real crisis in recruiting enough foster carers", according to Ms Whelan.
Outside the ERHA region, the Southern Health Board is experiencing the greatest problems with 58 children awaiting placements at the end of December.
The North Eastern Health Board has 17 children awaiting placements, the Mid Western has 15, the South Eastern and the Midlands Health Boards each has 13 children awaiting placements; the North Western has seven and the Western Health Board has three children waiting for a foster-care placement, according to the figures from the Department of Health and Children.
The figures come following a report in yesterday's Irish Times that a 14-year-old boy had been in a residential centre run by the Northern Area Health Board in the eastern region for the past three years because no foster place could be found for him.
The child is housed with five other boys, ranging in age from six to 10 years, all affected by a shortage of foster care places. The six children had been in the centre for between five months and 3.4 years.
Ms Whelan said there was a constant shortage of people coming forward to volunteer as foster parents. "There are 4,500 children in State care at the moment, 4,139 of whom are in foster care., and all those are spread between a pool of about 2,200 foster parents."
Asked what the reasons were for the shortage, she said: "It's because of women going back to work."
There were other reasons, she added, but these came back in the end "to the fact that people are a lot more materialistic and less altruistic than they used to be".
She also said there were numerous misconceptions about fostering.
"People are afraid that they are going to get to know the children, get attached to them and then the children are going to be whipped out from them. But that's not the case. People enter into fostering with a clear idea about the plan that has been made out for the child.
"They know how long they will be caring for the child."
Further information on fostering is available from local health boards.
