TheCity

Tag: FOI

  • Number of children in foster care falls by almost 200

    Number of children in foster care falls by almost 200

    An amendment to the Adoption Act 2017 now recognises foster children, who were born to married parents, as eligible for adoption.

    The new legislation, which was implemented in mid-October, opens a new door for children in foster care to be adopted. Before this, they were not permitted to be adopted, even if they had spent a significant amount of time living with one foster family.

    According to figures provided by TUSLA, the Child and Family Agency, under the FOI Act, the number of children in the Irish foster care system has been decreasing since 2013.

    In 2013, the overall number of children in foster care, whether based with a foster family, or living with relatives, was at 6,009. This was the highest it’s been in the past five years.

    The newest report show that as of 31st December 2016, 5,817 children were in the foster care system, a decrease of 192 since 2013, but still higher than in years previous to that.

    Foster Care NEW

    Under this new act, unmarried couples who have been living together for more than three years will also benefit from this change, as they will be able to adopt a child together. Gay couples who are in a civil partnership can also now adopt.

    This is one of the most significant changes in family law since the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015. The act addressed anomalies in family law and gave a new meaning to the word ‘family’. It gave rights to grandparents, step-parents and gave other relatives new avenues in which they could seek custody and guardianship of a child.

    However, domestic adoption figures have dropped significantly in the past decade or so, from 253 adoptions in 2005 to just 95 in 2016.

    “Overall, adoption numbers had been in decline generally over the past number of decades, mainly due to a wide variety of social and cultural factors and changes in attitudes, and this has continued through the changeover,” said Mark Kirwan of the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI).

    The largest decrease in domestic adoptions between the years 2005 and 2016 was between 2010 and 2011. Figures dropped from 189 in 2010 to 39 in 2011.

    Domestic Adoption NEW

    The main reason for this was because the Adoption Act 2010 commenced in November of that year. The enactment of the Adoption Act 2010 made it a requirement that all applicants wishing to adopt in Ireland must be in possession of a valid Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability before an adoption order can be made.

    It necessitated major changes in the assessment procedure, leading to a drop in orders granted immediately afterwards as new responsibilities were assumed by Tusla.

    In 2016, a total of 95 Adoption orders were granted. The majority of these, 65, were made in step family adoptions.

    While the majority of these were step family adoptions, nineteen adoptions were made in respect of children who had been in long term foster care. This was an increase of three since 2015 where there were sixteen foster care adoptions made.

    2014 still had the highest number of foster care adoptions in the past five years, with 23, an increase of six from 2013.

    It is expected that these numbers will rise over the coming years because of the modified Adoption Act.

    Foster Children Adopted NEW

    By Megan Walsh and Keeva Tyrrell

  • Reduction in euthanasia for Dublin’s dogs

    Reduction in euthanasia for Dublin’s dogs

    Last year saw a significant decrease in the number of stray or abandoned dogs in Dublin being euthanised when compared to 2015.

    Figures obtained from each of the council offices show how out of 1,423 dogs claimed by the four Dublin councils, 109 were put down; a 21 percent reduction from 2015’s figures which saw 138 stray dogs in Dublin being euthanised.

    Dublin City Council had the lowest euthanasia rate with just under four percent of its claimed dogs  being put down, with the majority of the rest either being reclaimed by owners, re-homed or taken to a dog welfare group.

    Killian Dog image#

    Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown had the most successful reclaim rate with 33 percent of its claimed dogs finding homes again.

    As well as a decrease in the number of stray dogs being put down, the overall number of stray dogs claimed by councils in 2016 slightly decreased from the previous year’s total. And the 1,516 stray dogs found in 2015 decreased by six percent to 1,423 by the end of 2016.

    Despite this positive reduction, many problems regarding mistreatment and the large number of stray dogs still on the streets still need to be addressed.

    Áine McAnally is a volunteer at Dogs Aid Animal Sanctuary, a charity set up to house, rehabilitate and rehome stray or abandoned dogs.

    She said: “Education is going to be the most important tool to decrease the number of stray and abandoned dogs. Currently dogs are easy to come by, cheap to buy and so some people are able to discard them without thinking too much about it because there is no value put on the animal. People need to be educated regarding either neutering their dogs or being hyper vigilant when their dogs are in heat and allow no dog wander on their own.”

    Despite the best efforts of shelters and dog charities such as Dogs Aid, the sheer amount of strays which are turned in on a yearly basis, even with a reduction in numbers, is still often too much for shelters to cope with. Shelters are often forced to refuse dogs due to lack of space, and ultimately this can result in the animal being put down.

    “We work on the basis that we can only do what we can do. We have between 60 and 70 dogs in the sanctuary at any one time and about 30 core volunteers that help run the sanctuary. This is our capacity and we don’t go over that or the dogs will suffer. We take in as many dogs as we can, and as soon as a kennel space is available we fill that with another dog,” said McAnally.

    Efforts by councils and shelters are responsible for an overall improvement in the 2016’s figure yet the problem of stray and abandoned dogs needs to be addressed at the source; the owners.

    By Killian Dowling