Therapeutic
Fostering Support

Supporting Attachment

St Bernard’s provides wide-ranging practical and professional support for both foster carers and the children in their care who have experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s). Foster carers and children who are referred to our service are provided with a dedicated and needs specific two-year support program. This program promotes the integration of theoretical learning into practice. In the first year of the program the foster carers attend a sixteen-week Certificate in Therapeutic Foster Care. St. Bernad’s fostering support service assist the carers to apply their insights gained and learning into the daily interactions with their foster children.

The primary focus of which is developing the attachment relationship between the child and the foster carer. Our experience shows that the successful development of a strong attachment relationship is a crucial catalyst for positive change and growth for the child and it creates the context in which resilience can be developed.

SUPPORTING FOSTER CARERS

In working to support foster carers to care for children who have serious attachment problems, St Bernard’s:

  • Develops a working partnership with the foster carers, the children concerned and the professionals involved in the overall care of the child;
  • Provides support to foster carers, so that they can reciprocate and care in an informed way for the child;
  • Help the child to recover from possible traumatic experiences.

We create a tailored programme for each carer, Therapeutic Support Plans (TSP’S), and each child to provide the best possible professional support for both.

Additional Information

Member of the Fostering Support team have presented at Social Care Ireland and IFCA national conferences and have co-authored a number of academic journal articles.

Andrew Kennedy, SCM and Roisin Stewart, Director of Services worked in conjunction with IFCA and Tusla to develop and implement a pilot program, ‘Rupture and Repair: responding to disruption and loss within fostering’. This was a joint program for foster carers and practitioners which looked at promoting a trauma informed approach to preventing foster care placement ruptures and promoting repairing and strengthening the attachment relationship. This program won a Silver Award at Tusla Excellence Awards in 2022.

Links to Articles

Over the last three years, St Bernard’s Fostering support Service has:

  • Undertaken 2,189 visits to foster carers
  • Provided 1,613 individual therapeutic sessions with children
  • Assisted 105 foster families
  • Directly supported 155 children

The foster carers we have worked with have spoken strongly about the value of St Bernard’s Fostering Support Service.

Case Study

A St Bernards Therapeutic Residential Care Case study paragraph – one liner. 

“Until I went on the programme and got the support from St. Bernard’s I had felt like I was for the most part doing it alone. I never felt judged and always supported, and at the same time I have a much bigger toolbox to work with (now).

I honestly wonder if I would still be fostering if it were not for the backup I received.”

– FOSTER CARER

Referral Process

St Bernard’s only accepts referrals from Tusla social work departments and we predominantly work with the South Tipperary/Carlow/Kilkenny areas. For those interested in finding out more about this service, please contact St Bernard’s Social Care Manager, Andrew Kennedy on 052-6131141 or via email at akennedy@stbernards.ie