Tusla can't say how many foster carers were removed due to complaints or allegations

Data is not centrally collated and the initial figure was deemed an "overcount".

TUSLA HAS SAID it doesn't know how many foster carers have been struck off in recent years.

The Child and Family Agency said it has "identified inconsistencies in the historic recording and reporting" of information sought by The Journal Investigates under Freedom of Information and that it "cannot currently validate the figures to a standard that would allow us to confidently stand over them."

The situation has resulted in Tusla last week having to add a correction to its own recently-published annual review of its services for children after we had highlighted that it featured incorrect data.

In an initial response to a Freedom of Information request from The Journal investigates on net recruitment of foster carers between 2023 and 2025 inclusive, Tusla said 46 foster carers had been "statutorily ceased" - that is, required to step back from fostering "by reason of a founded allegation, a complaint or serious concern".

However, in response to a subsequent FOI request, Tusla admitted that its initial response was incorrect and that the figure of 46 was "an overcount". 

Part of the problem is that the figure is not centrally collated.

Tusla stressed that "there were no adverse effects to children in care, foster carers, current and former, or to local service planning processes due to this manual counting error."

Two weeks later Tusla admitted that it was unable to provide a correct figure.

It comes as a number of recent reports have stressed the key role played by fostering in the Irish care system and how elements of it have come under pressure due to new and old challenges.

Fostering numbers under pressure

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Data provided to The Journal Investigates shows that in the past three years 770 carers stopped fostering, while 607 began fostering in the same period. 

Tusla said that although this represented a net loss of 163 foster carers in that period, the annual gap between the number of carers leaving and those being approved was narrowing, contrary to trends seen internationally.

Separate data provided by Tusla under Freedom of Information shows the challenges faced by those living and caring in the foster system, including challenging behaviour by the young person.  

In the same three-year period between 2023 and 2025, Tusla had 297 disruption reports about foster placements that came under pressure for a variety of reasons.

According to Tusla, those ranged from more prosaic reasons, such as a foster carer retiring, to an inability to meet the needs of a child in care, including mental health issues. 

Another prime reason for a placement entering a phase where a disruption report is required is when a foster carer claims an "inability … to manage young person's difficult behaviour/escalating behavioural difficulties of young person/absconding."

Among other reasons listed is "impact of cultural identity of foster carers on the child in care".

Tusla said this could apply to an Irish-born child living in a family who are originally from overseas, or the reverse - a child in foster care who is originally from overseas but living with Irish foster parents.

"Both situations can arise in a growing multicultural society," a Tusla spokesperson said. 

Since more than one disruption report can be linked to a single child, the 297 figure does not indicate the number of children impacted, but rather the number of times a placement ended or was in danger of doing so.

Other reasons cited by Tusla regions included where private arrangements have broken down, such as where a child is not in care but Tusla may be supporting the carer financially.

Tusla managers also cited issues with relative foster care. One area directly referenced is where "grandparents struggled to prioritise [a] child's needs and [the] child over time did not want contact with grandparents."

Some foster carers "statutorily ceased"

Some data is not centrally collated by Tusla - including the number of foster carers who are in effect removed from fostering because of a founded allegation, a complaint or serious concern.

When outlining how the 46 figure was inaccurate, Tusla said: "In exploring the potential to standardise this data as a national metric going forward, we commenced a validation process."

It initially said it would review its definitions and reporting on this area of fostering data and would rectify the figure - something which did not happen.

"Following further examination of the information, we have identified inconsistencies in the historic recording and reporting of some of the information you requested," a Tusla spokesperson said. 

"As a result, we cannot currently validate the figures to a standard that would allow us to confidently stand over them.

"We don't want to compound the issue by providing you with further figures that may subsequently require correction."

The spokesperson said that relevant information relating to individual children, foster carers and cases is held within individual records but that some historic national reporting relied on the manual collection of information from teams and areas across the country.

"Manual reporting processes have inherent limitations, including the potential for variation in how definitions are interpreted and applied across teams and over time. This becomes particularly relevant when attempting to compile retrospective national information from historic records."

Foster care is one of the areas currently being developed within the Tusla Case Management (TCM) system, which launched in 2021, with the aim of reducing reliance on manual data collection and strengthening reporting capability.

Tusla recently published its annual review of adequacy, which since last week has included a correction on the 2025 figure for foster carers who had to step back from the role.

A spokesperson for Tusla said it would provide an update "once this work has completed on what information, if any, can then be reliably provided."

Social workers: risk is limited

Despite the gap in the data, social workers believe it is not likely to pose a risk to children.

The chief operating officer of the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW), Caroline Strong, said the assessment process for foster carers was "really robust".

"There is no way, with the amount of checks they have to do, if someone had been previously fostering [and been struck off] - they couldn't move county, move area or move province and pop up somewhere else and start fostering," she said.

However, Strong said that more data was needed to learn why some foster carers step away from fostering.

"Some of the reasons, we suspect, are practical - we are in a time when both parents work, or there is no spare bedroom because adult children are still living at home.

"A lot of it is that children needed support more than the foster parents themselves can provide.

There is a lack of access to CAMHS, or therapeutic services, and if you are in foster care, you have trauma. 

Tusla said it had no additional information on reasons for people leaving fostering, with its TCM System "expected to offer a more comprehensive overview of reasons for exits" in future.

"Quarterly reporting on reasons for exits is not undertaken," it said. "A desk-based review conducted in 2024 indicated that many departures were due to retirement; however, this was not a rigorous research exercise and provides only an indicative view."

Risk of burnout

Tusla's review of adequacy found that the number of referrals to the Child and Family Agency increased by 10% last year. 

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The same report states that at the end of 2025, there were 3,782 foster carers on the panel of approved foster carers, 27 fewer than in the previous year.

Tusla said that anecdotally the age profile of new carers appears to be getting older, with people beginning fostering in their 40s rather than their 20s. It added: "It is clear that at least 50% of current foster carers have fostered for 10 years or more."

The IASW said, given the vital role of fostering in the care system, more needed to be done at government level to support it, including around increased payments and in providing pensions to foster carers.

A recently published report from the Department of Children highlighted the ups and downs experienced by foster carers.

A separate report published by the Department of Children just last month into the experiences of general foster carers around the country included a survey of 120 general foster carers which found overall satisfaction with fostering was high, with 81% of respondents reporting high or very high satisfaction within their role. 

Over half intended to continue fostering for as long as possible.

Yet it also found that 40% of foster carers had experienced burnout a few times a year, and 43% said they had considered discontinuing fostering at some point.

The report also pointed out that "Ireland has historically performed relatively strongly in maintaining a family-based model of care" but that "maintaining this standard is proving increasingly challenging."

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Issues raised by foster carers 

The stability of a foster placement matters, particularly compared to the relative lack of stability in a residential placement. 

According to the Care Experiences report: "The proportion of children in general foster care placements who experienced three or more placement changes in 12 months was 1% in 2015 and 3% in 2024."

"By comparison, the proportions for residential care were 13% in 2015 and 27% in 2024. This means that in 2024, one in every four children in residential care lost their bed, home and carers at least three times in the year." 

One child had 10 social workers over three years and another had 15 social workers by the time they turned four.

A high percentage of foster care respondents - more than two-thirds - reported that the child in their care had additional needs.

As one foster care worker said: 

We have children who are coming into care now that 10 years ago would have been the exception.

The Irish Foster Care Association (IFCA) said any placement breakdown was "usually complicated" and "not down to just one issue".

According to an IFCA spokesperson: "Our advocates see disruptions resulting from several factors intertwined such as the child's trauma, their changing development needs, foster carer experience with these matters, the demanding and stressful nature of foster care and indeed system factors such as meeting the child's therapeutic needs and issues with education."

The IFCA said fostering was "the backbone" of the care system and highlighted how foster care costs approximately €22,000 per child annually, compared with €350,000 per child per year in private residential care and €416,000 annually for Special Emergency Arrangements.

It called for the introduction of pension and PRSI recognition measures for long-term foster carers in the upcoming budget and that all young people leaving foster care should receive support equivalent to the Foster Care Allowance until they reach the age of 23.

The Journal Investigates

Reporter: Noel Baker • Editor: Christine Bohan • Social Media: Cliodhna Travers • Main Image Design: Lorcan O'Reilly