'Nothing prepares you for the day' - Loving Laois parents foster set of baby twins

There are currently over 6,000 children in care in Ireland and this figure is growing every day.

Unfortunately, a lot of children in Ireland cannot live with their own family, either on a short-term or long-term basis for various reasons and are therefore brought into State care.

This could be because of illness in the family, the death of a parent, neglect, abuse or violence in the home, or sometimes it can be because the parent or family is not coping and they need respite or long-term help. Foster families are often the safety net for children in those situations; people like Patrick and Amanda Mooney from Laois.

Ahead of Fostering Awareness Week, the Leinster Express spoke to Patrick Mooney on his amazing fostering experience with his wife Amanda.

Patrick and Amanda are a loving married couple from Ballybrittas, Co Laois, and they always wanted to be foster parents for as long as they can remember.

Patrick said that they started looking into it about nine years ago, but unfortunately they had to "put it on the back burner for a while" because Amanda's mum got sick and moved in with them, leaving them without the room for a foster child.

When Amanda's mum passed away, they looked into fostering a child again.

The couple have four biological children aged between 27 down to 14, but their dream was to help a child in need and give them a loving home and family.

Patrick and Amanda went with Fostering First Ireland (FFI) and the process took about six months in total before they got a phone call asking them if they would take in a set of twins.

"We were delighted to be approved for fostering because it's something that we always felt we wanted to do," Patrick said.

The twins were fostered by Patrick and Amanda when they were just two years old and now the twins are about to celebrate their sixth birthday.

Four years later, Patrick said the twins are doing "absolutely amazing."

"Nothing prepares you, no matter what type of training you've done, nothing prepares you for the day and the minute that a car pulls up outside your house and two little people come into your home, because people are putting a lot of trust in you to look after them.

"But to be honest with you, the foster children that we have in our home, they've now just become part of the family and we think it's made a big difference to them because they're integrated now in their community.

"They go to school in the locality, they're involved in drama in Portlaoise, they're involved in art lessons in Portlaoise, and they're meeting more and more people their age and they're just integrating so well," Patrick said.

The doting dad said that a major highlight for him of fostering is the joy of knowing that you're making a difference with the children and seeing the difference in them.

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"They love art, they love sport, they love going to school, but they love being at home, is what I'm going to call it, because they've just blended into our family so well."

Patrick said that there is a lot of young people out there, unfortunately, that need someone to open their door to them and go, 'hey, come in here, live with us.'

He noted that one big challenge as a foster parent is trying to properly answer questions your foster child may have.

"One thing that we found a challenge was that the twins have lots of questions. But what we found with the twins was if you answer the questions as honestly as you can in an age appropriate way, they'll accept your answer."

Patrick and Amanda highly recommend fostering to anyone who is able to do it.

"I would ask anyone out there, who was even considering foster care, to get in touch with Fostering First Ireland.

"They make everything so easy for you, everything from your first meeting to guiding you through your assessment and your training to become a foster carer.

"And once you get over that hurdle and you know that you have love in your heart and room in your home for somebody, the rewards completely outweigh the challenges."

Patrick and Amanda have a link social worker and said "if you have any questions whatsoever, no matter how stupid you think the question is, you should always ask them because if they don't have the answer, they'll know somebody who has the answer."

They also attend monthly meetings with other foster parents in Durrow, Co Laois, which they find extremely helpful.

"You'd be amazed how diverse the mix of people that are actually foster carers in the area; there's lots of different religions, lots of different people that are fostering. It's absolutely brilliant."

Patrick said that FFI have 140 foster homes in Ireland and this is not nearly enough for the amount of children in need of a home.

"They have a 24/7 phone line that no matter how small or how big something is going on that you need advice of, you can ring that number and it's always answered.

"And what we love about as well is that FFI have an annual event at Christmas and an annual event in the summer where all the foster carers in the Leinster area would meet up.

"I would really like to encourage more people to go and do it because it is so rewarding. It really is," he concluded.

If you are interested in fostering a child, you can send an enquiry to www.fosteringfirstireland.ie or call Fostering Advisor Jess directly on 087 9394697.

You can also attend one of their fortnightly information sessions which are held online with fostering advisors and experienced foster carers.

Fostering First Ireland's criteria to be able to foster a child is as follows: 

- You need to be over the age of twenty-five, there is no upper age with fostering you just need to be in good health and have a reliable support network around you.
- You should have a spare bedroom available, foster children can not share with your own children.
- If you have children, your youngest should be at least 3 years old. You do not need children to foster.
- You should have your full driving licence, there are a lot of appointments that come up for children in care so it is important that you can travel to and from them.

"Fostering is the most amazing rewarding journey you will ever experience, one piece of advice that our foster carers would always give is to just get going and try not to think too much about making that call. You are always supported by professionals and never alone once you get started you will not look back," Fostering First Ireland said.