An initiative to help young people who grew up in care to pursue education at further and higher level is to be showcased by the Departments of Children and of Further and Higher Education at an event today.
Those behind the pilot programme, which has been running since 2020 across Munster Technological University, UCC, and the Kerry and Cork colleges of further education, hope other institutions will follow their lead in developing a system of wraparound supports at college for people who have grown up in foster or residential care.
Tusla is also involved in the partnership which aims to provide a 'one-stop-shop' of supports and information for students with care experience across the four colleges.
Inspiration for the scheme came from a chance meeting between one student and her lecturer on a corridor at MTU.
"When Patrick [McGarty] asked me 'how are you getting on' I told him 'I’m out of here'", said Sarah O’Brien.
Sarah was then a mature student of Social Care at MTU, and by the time she ran into her lecturer she had made up her mind.
"I felt like I just didn’t belong there. There was a lot going on in my personal life too," she said.
"I was just out the gap. I wasn’t even going to talk to anyone."
But that chance meeting changed everything. "I said, 'no, you are not out of here'", Patrick McGarty remembers.
He arranged for Sarah to sit down with the college’s career guidance service, and organised a deferral for her.
It was this experience that prompted Dr McGarty, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at MTU, to set about establishing a more formal mechanism of support for students such as Sarah, who have experienced residential or foster care growing up.
Students to receive 'wraparound support'
The initiative across the four Munster colleges comprises "pre-entry and post-entry advice and wraparound support" for the student.
It means Tusla can immediately put a young person considering college in touch with support at MTU or UCC, or a college of further education. Joint open days are also held.
Five years after it was first introduced, the programme will be officially launched at the Department for Children, Disability and Equality this morning, with both the Minister for Children and Minister for Further and Higher Education in attendance.
"The children known to our care system are some of the most vulnerable young people in Ireland.
"This new education partnership represents a significant opportunity to improve the experiences and outcomes for our young people in care in further and higher education.
"This will deliver an improved service that recognises their strengths, listens to their voices, and supports them to reach their full potential," said Minister for Children Norma Foley.
"A lot of care-experienced students don't have the same emotional supports"
After coming out of care, Sarah spent years trying to stabilise herself financially and with housing. It was only by her late 20s that she felt secure enough to consider college.
"I didn't have a clue about SUSI grants, or how I would support myself," she said. "I had no confidence in myself either. College seemed like an alien concept.
"A lot of kids would feel this coming out of care."
While feelings of alienation may be felt by students from a variety of marginalised backgrounds, Dr McGarty points to an added factor for students who have grown up in care.
"A lot of care-experienced students don't have the same emotional supports.
"If you grew up in care, you might not have anybody. Some might have a good relationship with a former foster parent but others don’t".
After deferring her studies for a year, Sarah returned to MTU and completed her degree in social care, graduating two years later top of her class. She has not looked back.
"It has just completely changed my life", she said.
It was a chance encounter at a pivotal moment that led to Sarah getting the help she needed at MTU.
She is glad that for students just like her that kind of support is now built in.
