The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published an inspection report on the non-statutory foster care service operated by Orchard Fostering Service, an independent private provider of foster care services and supported lodgings. Placements with Orchard Fostering Service are commissioned by the Child and Family Agency’s (Tusla) service area teams. 



HIQA is authorised by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth under Section 69 of the Childcare Act 1991, as amended by Section 26 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, to inspect foster care services provided by Tusla, to report on its findings to the Minister and to inspect services taking care of a child on behalf of Tusla, including non-statutory providers of foster care. HIQA monitors foster care services against the 2003 National Standards for Foster Care. 

HIQA conducted an inspection of Orchard Fostering Service between 28 and 30 March 2023. This was the second inspection of the non-statutory service by HIQA since 2021. In this inspection, HIQA found that, of the eight national standards assessed, seven were compliant and one was substantially complaint. 



Children’s rights were promoted at every level of the service, particularly in terms of supporting children in expressing their views and providing them with key information with regards to support services. Orchard Fostering Services approach to assessment and matching aimed to ensure that children’s views were sought, explored and central to decision-making. 



The service had robust systems in place to promote the safety and welfare of children, including the management of safeguarding concerns. There were high levels of support provided to foster carers and each foster carer had a link worker allocated to them. Orchard Fostering Services operated in line with their policy on supervision and training. There were effective policies in place that were reviewed regularly. Orchard Fostering Service had effective management and governance systems in place and created a number of internal systems and processes to improve the quality of the service for children and foster carers. One area for improvement was in matching carers with children, as the matching records maintained by the service required improvement with regard to the level of detail and analysis of the suitability of the match.



The inspection report can be found at the link below.