Offaly families strongly urged to consider fostering

“If you have room in your home and room in your heart, then you should consider becoming a foster parent,” says Eric Sheppard from Birr who says it is “one of the most rewarding jobs you will ever do.”

Eric and his wife, Linda, are just one of the 250 foster families in the Midlands who work in close conjunction with Tusla Child and Family Agency to provide foster care for over 330 vulnerable children and young people.

Tusla has launched a direct appeal for more foster families to come forward as part of National Fostering Week which takes place across the country all this week.

The recruitment campaign, with the theme of 'Raising Amazing' celebrates the positive and transformative change that foster families have made to the lives of vulnerable children and young adults by providing them with a safe and loving home environment.

Eric Sheppard says he and his wife had been “looking at the idea of fostering” for a long time before they put their names forward to Tusla. With two sons who are now aged 28 and 21, he says they decided to “take the plunge into fostering” about seven years ago and have never had any regrets since then.

“Fostering is not something that you just arrive at overnight,” he admits “it is a slow process to get your head around it, and once you put your name forward there is a lot of background checking, and vetting before you are cleared to become a foster family,” he says.

The Sheppards, like other foster families, were initially asked by Tusla to engage in respite fostering, which means they provided foster care for children only on a weekend basis. “We had the same children every weekend for the best part of a year, and while it undoubtedly came with its challenges, we did get very attached to the kids,” he says.

After their initial period of respite fostering, Eric and Linda were contacted by Tusla to enquire if they would take two pre-teen children from the same family on a full-time basis. “We have had the same two foster kids with us for the past five and a half years and so far, so good,” says Eric. “It has been a wonderful journey.”

While the Sheppards acknowledge that it can be “very bewildering” for vulnerable children to end up with a foster family at the start, “you do very quickly build up a bond with them, and if you foster on a long-term basis, we do now, you become like their parents,” he says.

Eric is quick to point out that no foster family is ever left to “go it alone” by Tusla. “They have a huge input into the whole process,” he says “the foster children have a dedicated social worker and the foster families also have a social worker assigned to them, so there is constant communication between all parties.”

Describing it as “a hugely rewarding job, especially when you see the children blossom,” Eric Sheppard says it is “the simple things that matter” in the end.

“It’s things like picking blackberries with the kids, collecting insects in a jam jar, taking them off on a mystery tour in the car, kicking a ball around the back garden….things they never would have experienced” he says “they need a loving and a stable family background.”

There are currently 5,957 children in care in Ireland, the vast majority of whom are being cared for by foster families. Tusla National Fostering Weeks runs until this Sunday, October 18, and members of the public who would like to find out more about fostering can call Freephone: 1800 226 771 or email tusla.fostering@tusla.ie