Fostering Garden designed by young people opens at St Conal’s Hospital Letterkenny

As part of Fostering Awareness Month, Tusla and Foróige collaborated with young people from Donegal to design and create a new fostering garden at St Conal’s Hospital in Letterkenny.

The fostering garden is a celebration of Tusla foster carers, the work they do, and the children and young people who have blossomed in their care. The fostering garden uses the space, and a variety of colours and textures to celebrate the connections between the young people, foster children, carers, their families, and the staff who support them. 

“It is my utter privilege to officiate at the launch of this beautiful fostering garden,” said Mayor of Letterkenny and Milford MD, Ciaran Brogan. “I am extremely impressed by the collaborative work undertaken by Tusla and Foróige and, of course, by the young people who participated in the design and planting of the garden. I would like to thank all the staff and young people for their tremendous dedication and commitment”. 

Young people design Fostering Garden at St Conal’s Hospital Letterkenny, as part of Tusla Fostering Awareness Month. Photo: Clive Wasson

Young people, foster carers, families and the teams from Tusla and Foróige attended the launch and welcomed the new garden space.

Ireland is among the world leaders in foster care. As of March 2025 3,817 foster carers across Ireland currently open their homes to 5,021 children, including 225 children in Donegal who are cared for by 142 foster carers in the region. Tusla foster carers are an essential component of Tusla’s alternative care system, with 88 per cent of children in care living in a foster placement. 

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National Fostering Awareness Month is an essential campaign run by Tusla as the statutory agency for, and experts in, foster care. The fostering garden aims to help raise awareness about the ongoing need for foster carers in communities across Donegal and how rewarding it is to foster a child. The new garden has transformed a previously unused space to feature planting and colour that brings new life and colour to the area. There are also plans for a graffiti wall to be designed by the young people, to further enhance the space.

Photo: Clive Wasson

Tusla provides, through its community of foster carers, a safe, secure and stable home environment for children and young people who cannot live with their birth parent(s).

Tusla foster carers come from all walks of life. This includes those in same-sex relationships, Travellers, non-Irish nationalities, people from different faiths and beliefs, people who have a disability, jobseekers, renters, single people, people who are over 50 years old, couples who work fulltime, and rural as well as urban dwellers.

There is an ongoing demand for foster carers and Tusla is asking people from diverse backgrounds, in communities across Ireland, to consider providing all types of foster care. It could be respite care on weekends- even one weekend a month. It could be an emergency placement, or a longer-term placement for children and young people who cannot, for various reasons, live with their birth families.

Jacqueline Smyth, National Foster Care Lead, Tusla, said: “Fostering Awareness Month is about celebrating our wonderful community of foster carers - their dedication, kindness and commitment - and spreading awareness about what it means to foster.

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“When you become a Tusla foster carer, you join Ireland's largest community of foster carers, a community with decades of experience and staff who have worked in every aspect of the child and family services and who bring this invaluable experience into their fostering work. 

“The first step in the fostering journey is to speak to someone on the Tusla Fostering team to explore if fostering is the right move for you and your family. There are information sessions and events around the country. These are listed on www.fostering.iewhich also includes details on becoming a foster parent,” added Jaqueline Smyth.

Talk to Tusla about fostering as an option. Visit www.fostering.ie, call freephone 1800 226771 or email tusla.fostering@tusla.ie

There are in-person and online fostering information sessions, and a full range of activities listed on www.fostering.ie.

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