TIGALA 2025 Conference: Getting It Right – The Impact of Placement Breakdown and Placement Moves on Children in Care

Access TIGALA’s 2025 conference recordings on preventing placement breakdowns for children in foster care. Explore insights from Tusla social workers and legal strategies under Ireland's Child Care Act 1991 that help children in care to stay with foster families longer and, ultimately, improve outcomes for children in care.

In the quiet, clinical language of social care, we often speak of "placement breakdowns." It is a term that suggests a mechanical failure – a logistical error to be rectified with paperwork and phone calls. But at TIGALA’s 2025 conference, Getting It Right, held this July in Kildare, speakers Sarah Daly and Regina Hamilton stripped away this professional veneer to reveal the raw, human devastation beneath.

The question they posed to the room was as simple as it was disquieting: “What is it like to just sit with the awfulness of the situation for the child?”.

It is the loss of normal life, a normal childhood... going to the beach for a walk, throwing on a pair of wellies, just being part of a family. Taking for granted that feeling of belonging where you just belong – like you don't have to make an effort.

For those who missed the event, the recordings are now available below. They offer a profound journey that moves from the emotional interior of a child’s world to the sharp, practical application of the law – a necessary duality for anyone committed to advocating for children in care.

The Ripple Effect of Loss

The morning session began not with statistics, but with stories. Sarah Daly and Regina Hamilton, principal social workers with Tusla, introduced us to "Lucy," a seven-year-old with a love for dancing and animals, and "Jack," a 15-year-old striker for his local soccer team.

Through these narratives, Daly and Hamilton illustrated how a placement move is rarely a singular event. For Lucy, leaving her foster home wasn't just losing a set of parents; it was losing the dog, Coco, who she had learned to brush and feed. For Jack, it wasn't just a change of address; it was the loss of his "mates in the glen" and the identity he had built as the star player for Toro United.

The speakers argued that in our rush to "fix" the problem  – to manage the logistics of a move  – we often inadvertently bypass the child’s grief. They challenged practitioners to lead with vulnerability and to acknowledge that for the child, the bottom has fallen out of their world. The session also featured a searing testimony from a care-experienced young person, who described the trauma of being moved like "a piece of luggage," further emphasising the need for professionals to simply listen and acknowledge the "crap" of the situation before attempting to repair it.

The Legal Architecture of Stability

If the first half of the seminar was an exercise in empathy, the second was a masterclass in strategy. Barrister Donal Ó Muircheartaigh took the podium to demystify the legal mechanisms that can halt these breakdowns or, at the very least, soften the blow.

Navigating the complexities of the Child Care Act 1991, Donal explored the tension between the agency's duties under Section 36 and the court's powers under Section 47. In a landscape where "lack of resources" is a common refrain, he dissected the "impossibility argument," citing Supreme Court precedents that challenge the notion that an agency can simply plead an inability to provide care due to staffing or bed shortages.

Perhaps most valuable for practitioners were his insights on creative resourcing. Donal highlighted how legal advocacy can secure enhanced payments for foster carers, funding for boarding schools, or even summer camps and equine therapy – interventions that can act as pressure valves to sustain a fragile placement.

The conference also served as a moment of reflection, as President Kelly and attendees paid tribute to the late Judge Marie Quirke. Her tireless work and bravery in the District Court remain a guiding light for the profession, reminding us that the system must always be challenged in the service of the child.

These recordings ask us to be equally brave. They ask us to sit with the discomfort of a child's trauma and to wield the law with creativity and precision. As we continue our work this year, let these talks serve as both a grounding force and a call to action.