How Could You? Hall of Shame-Foster Parent/Ireland

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Ireland, a foster parent “was arrested following a high-speed chase through a housing  estate.

After his arrest, a key to a van was found and the van was found  to contain cannabis, cocaine and a “head-shop” drug with street values of €290,000, €520,000 and €17,000 respectively, along with  a shotgun and ammunition. Keys to a safe and to an address were  also found. The safe, found in the bathroom of the dwelling,  contained €118,000 in cash.

The court heard the man has a number of convictions, of which the  most serious was for dangerous driving causing death, for which he  was imprisoned for three years in 2005 and disqualified from driving for five years. In 2006 he received a second conviction for a dangerous driving offence, which took place in 2005. He also has a conviction for assault.

His counsel told the court the man’s partner was pregnant and he  had access visits with a child from a previous relationship. He  was fostering one child, who was a family member, and had applied  to foster another.

Mr Justice Paul Butler set bail at the man’s bond of €100 and an  independent surety of €40,000, or two independent sureties of  €20,000, stressing they had to be genuinely independent.

He also said he should observe a curfew between midnight and 7am,  report daily to his local Garda station, surrender his passport,  provide the Garda with his mobile phone number and be available to  them at all times.

Asked to comment on the vetting of foster parents, a spokeswoman  for the HSE said: “At the end of December 2011, 85 per cent of  foster carers had been approved by a foster care panel. Approval  includes Garda clearance.

“Children who are received into the care of the HSE are generally  placed in family situations, either with their relatives or with  general foster carers.

“In some cases, the timescale within which a child requires a  placement does not provide time for full clearance in advance of  the placement, particularly in emergency situations where a family  member may be identified as an appropriate placement.

“This decision to place a child is based upon a risk assessment  of the family. In these circumstances, the vetting procedures are  followed as soon as possible after the placement has commenced.”

“A spokeswoman for the Health Service Executive said yesterday almost 88 per cent of foster parents have received clearance,  including Garda vetting.” [What are you doing with the 12 percent of foster parents that have NOT received clearance? Do they still have children in their care?]

Foster parent charged with having drugs worth €830,000

[Irish Times 7/17/12 by Carol Coulter]

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