Foster care services in the Galway/Roscommon area have been found to be highly compliant in national standards following the release of a HIQA inspection report.
At the time of the inspection there were 365 children in foster care in the area, with 78 children placed with relatives, 284 children placed with general foster carers, and 3 children placed with private foster carers.
Following the inspection of services in the Galway/Roscommon region, providers were found to be substantially compliant in 3 areas of the national standards and compliant in the other 3.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, inspectors conducted telephone interviews with children over 12 in foster care, while the carers of children under 12 were spoken to as part of the audit.
The majority of children spoke positively about their time in the foster system and each child had been allocated a social worker at the time of the inspection.
The majority of children were happy to be consulted in their care planning process and told inspectors they were pleased that their voices had been heard.
Services in the region were also commended with how staff have kept in contact with children during the pandemic, with a variety of socially distanced and virtual meetings set up.
While the services were found to be fully compliant, the inspection highlighted issues with record keeping, the preparedness of children leaving care, and the management of voluntary care arrangements.
