You've thought about it before.

Maybe it was a news story, maybe it was someone at work who fosters, or a house that's been quiet too long. Somewhere along the way, the thought arrived, could we do that? and then life moved on, and the thought stayed where thoughts like that tend to stay. Recurring every so often but not strong enough to prompt action.

This month we are inviting you to bring us that thought and all of your questions. The hopeful parts and the doubtful parts.

The questions people are almost embarrassed to ask

They are nearly always the same ones, and they deserve straight answers:

Am I too old? Probably not. Foster carers in Ireland are in their thirties and in their sixties. What matters is energy, patience, and a stable home, not a birth year.

Do I need to own my house? Be married? Have raised children already? No, no, and no. Renters foster, single people foster, people who've never parented foster, and foster well.

What if I get too attached? You will, that's not the risk, that's the role. A child who has been loved wholeheartedly, even for a season, carries that with them. The goodbye is hard because the care was real. We'll never pretend otherwise, and we will support you if that is part of your journey.

What if I'm not sure? Then you are exactly who an information evening is for.

What actually happens at an information evening

No forms, no commitment. What you will find instead honest conversation, and people who know fostering from the inside, including experienced foster carers who once sat where you will be sitting, wondering the same things. You will hear what it really feels like when you first receive a child into your care, what the training covers, what a link worker actually does, and what support looks like at two in the afternoon and two in the morning.

You can ask anything or you can also just listen, both are welcome.

You wouldn't be doing it alone

Fostering asks a lot, we won't dress that up. But at Origins, no one carries it by themselves. Every foster family has a dedicated link worker, full training before and throughout, a 24/7 support line, and a community of carers who meet and look out for one another. HIQA, Ireland's independent health inspectorate recently reviewed our service and found exactly that: support built into the structure, not bolted on.

Right now, in your county

Children across Ireland are waiting, not for a perfect family, but for a steady one. A safe place to land while their own family works through a hard chapter. Fostering isn't about replacing anyone. It's about holding a vulnerable child who needs your steady hand.

Come and ask

Fostering information evening📅 13th July · 🕖 7pm 📍 online ☎️ 087 0529749✉️ enquiries@originsfostercare.ie

No pressure, no expectation, just answers to the question you have been carrying around "Could we do that?"

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