Some common perceptions about foster parents are that you must be a perfect parent, have plenty of money and work full-time in the home.
Not one of them is true, according to Ms Michelle McKernan, fostering team leader for the North Western Health Board in Sligo/Leitrim.
"The only stipulation is that you have a deep and abiding love of children. If you have that, you are well on the road," she said.
There is a huge demand for foster parents in the north-west - and supply is not meeting it. Next week, the NWHB will begin a campaign to recruit more foster carers. There are some 126 foster parents in the Sligo/ Leitrim/West Cavan area. They have to cope with children in need of emergency accommodation as well as short- and long-term care. "Some of these carers assume the care of more than one child at a time," said Ms McKernan. "Increasing demands on foster parents mean that they need a break now and then. We need a panel of foster carers to allow for this."
She said that busier lives and more people working meant many people felt they did not have the time for fostering. "But we have a real mixture of foster carers - single, married, people who are working and people who are not working. Once you have a real love for children, have patience and warmth, and meet the eligibility criteria, it doesn't matter."
The assessment includes references, Garda clearance and a full medical examination. There is no upper age limit, but "common sense applies," said Ms McKernan.
Potential foster parents do a six-week training course which includes meetings with other foster parents. They are then assessed for an average of five months. Meeting an experienced foster parent was by far the most valuable exercise, according to Charlie and Margaret Sharkey, from Dromahair, Co Leitrim. "When we were thinking of doing it, we met a foster parent with a wealth of experience and knowledge. She was excellent and answered so many questions for us," said Charlie.
That was 12 years ago. The couple have now fostered 16 children.
Margaret remembers the first child they fostered - a three-month old baby. "I was so nervous, thinking of all that could go wrong. But it was fine, and after a while you don't get worried. There's also great back-up from the health board."
One of the most common questions asked is: how do you stop yourself getting attached to the children? "You have to teach yourself to let go, but no matter how to tell yourself not to get attached, it's still very difficult," Margaret Sharkey said. "But then, if you didn't get attached, what sort of a person would you be? You just have to tell yourself that you have the child for so long and prepare yourself for that."
The Sharkeys are particularly pleased that the Sligo/Leitrim community care area has become the first region to give medical consent to foster parents in an emergency situation. Previously, if a foster child had an accident at a weekend, or after office hours, the foster carers could find it difficult to get the birth parents' permission for a medical procedure. Now, these emergencies are covered, and it looks as if other health boards will follow suit.
"Foster parents like the Sharkeys are the unsung heroes of our community," said Ms McKernan. "They take on so much and do this work so silently."
A public meeting for potential foster parents will be held in the Silver Swan Hotel, Sligo, on July 27th at 8.30 p.m. and in the Landmark Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon, on August 16th, at 8.30 p.m.
The European Foster Care Conference will be held in University College Cork from August 24th-27th.