North Team

We hope you enjoyed the long summer days and found time to rest, recharge, and soak up some sunshine. It’s been a season full of change, celebration, and connection across the North Team, and we’re delighted to share some highlights with you.

First, a big congratulations to Aileen, who was appointed Senior Social Work Practitioner in April. We’re thrilled to see her step into this well-deserved role and continue bringing her warmth and expertise to the team.

This summer has been extra special as we’ve marked FFI’s 20th Anniversary. From the muddy fun at Causey Farm in July to the adventure-filled day at Wildlands in August, it’s been wonderful to celebrate together. The 20th Anniversary Conference was another highlight — it was fantastic to have carers there, sharing the day with us. Thank you to everyone who joined and helped make these events so memorable.

We also want to take a moment to acknowledge Jo Murphy’s retirement. Jo has been such a valued part of FFI, and her thoughtful endings with carers and staff reflect the care and compassion she’s brought to her role over the years. We wish Jo all the very best in this next chapter and thank her for everything she’s contributed. As Jo steps away, we’re delighted to welcome Emer, who is currently completing her induction and looks forward to meeting carers in the coming weeks. Welcome, Emer — we’re so glad to have you with us!

We’re also celebrating the approval of new foster carers:

• Kerrie in Co. Louth

• Sol and Juliet in Co. Louth

• Philomena and Paul in Co. Meath

 We’re so pleased to have you join the FFI community and look forward to supporting you on your fostering journey.

Summer has brought many firsts for our young people — including first holidays, first flights, and lots of new experiences. We hope these moments have been joyful and memorable. Congratulations to all our students who completed their Junior and Leaving Certificate exams and best wishes to those who recently received their Leaving Cert results — we’re so proud of you!

Our re-established carer group in Donegal is now up and running on a quarterly basis and is already proving to be a valuable space for connection and support. Thank you to everyone who attends and contributes — your insights and camaraderie are helping to build a strong and supportive community.

Finally, we want to celebrate some incredible milestones:

Lynda and Patrick in Dublin, John and Jean in Laois, and Noreen and Patrick in Donegal, who are marking 20 years of fostering this year. What an achievement! We look forward to celebrating with you at the upcoming Carers Party in November — thank you for your unwavering commitment and care.

Wishing you all a smooth transition into the autumn months and the new school term.

Warm regards,
Joanna

Mid Team Update

Happy Autumn from the Mid-Team. Well done to everyone for making it through another summer! We had a fantastic one here on the Mid Team and are now looking forward for the rest of the year.

In May, we had the pleasure of attending FFI’s first — of many, hopefully — conferences. It was an incredible day, featuring thought-provoking speakers who deepened our understanding of the trauma-informed approach we’re working to implement. And of course, there was plenty of laughter on the day too!

A big thank you to everyone who was able to join us in celebrating FFI’s 20th Anniversary over the summer. We had some wonderful days out in Kilkenny and Meath, and we know a few carers from the Mid Team were also lucky enough to attend the celebrations in Cork and Galway. It was a great chance to come together and celebrate all that we’ve achieved as a community.

Fostering can be a busy and demanding experience, often leaving little time to reflect on the journey. These special days gave us the chance to pause and appreciate the many milestones and achievements we’ve reached over the years. They were filled with fun, celebration, and joy and it was a lovely opportunity to come together and honour FFI and the past 20 years. Most importantly, it was a chance to recognise the incredible dedication of all our carers, both past and present, and to celebrate the amazing young people we care for. It has given us renewed motivation to continue writing the FFI story — with you, and hopefully with many more people who have yet to begin their fostering journey.

On that note, I’d like to highlight some important milestones that have been reached over the summer and some that are just around the corner. We’ve welcomed a number of new carers into the FFI family, including Brendan and Tina in Kilkenny, and John and Saibh in Wicklow, both of whom have recently taken on their first placements. A special mention also goes to Martina and John in Waterford, Grainne and Louise in Dublin, and the Sandra and Brendan in Dublin, who are approaching the one-year mark in their fostering journey.

It’s been a busy few months supporting our new carers as they get up and running, and helping others settle more deeply into their roles.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to send our best wishes to those with young people starting school for the first time or transitioning into secondary school this autumn. We understand this can be a daunting time for both the young person and their carer, and we hope the transition is as smooth and positive as possible.

As the new school term begins, we hope you had the chance to enjoy some final summer adventures and are settling back into autumn routines — traffic and all!

See you all soon, Mary, Elaine, Clare, Marguerite and Anthony

South Team Update

Happy Autumn from the South Team! We hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing summer, we have been busy with cross cover for summer holidays and we were delighted to welcome back link social worker Sinead Grene from maternity leave in May.

We kicked off the summer with our 20th birthday celebration conference in the Glenroyal Hotel in Maynooth in May and we were so proud of its success, it was a very enjoyable day. Mary Adams and I presented our social work practice journey over the past 20 years in FFI, we reflected on our learning from lots of the courses we have engaged in over the years – Attachment, Therapeutic Crisis Intervention for Families, Person Brain Training, Developmental Trauma (and many more!) and how they have all led us on our current path to becoming a trauma informed organisation.

The conference set the tone for the celebration events over the summer, it was fantastic to see so many families turn out for the events in Cork, Kilkenny, Meath and Galway – well done to everyone for their hard work in getting them organised.

We were delighted to welcome two new foster families to our area this spring/ summer – Karen and Declan in Clare, and Siobhan and Patrick in Tralee. The demand for placements remains high and we are very grateful to everyone giving their time to fostering.

I hope everyone enjoyed the summer holidays and that the return to school and routine is going smoothly. Carer groups are back in September too, and I look forward to getting around to a few in the Autumn/Winter.

Take care, Claire