Stories from Foster Care is a podcast series brought to you by The Irish Foster Care Association in association with the Department of Children, Disability & Equality. Join host Niamh Barrett as she meets people from all walks of life who have different experiences of foster care in Ireland. Listen to Stories from Foster Care on Spotify, Apple, Nearcast or wherever you get your podcasts or you can listen here.
Episode 23
In this episode of Stories from Foster Care, Niamh Barrett talks to Clodagh Downes. Clodagh was in relative foster care as a child and since then she has been on a journey through education in social care, working in disability services and now working with Tusla in the area of Feedback and Complaints, a role that she feels well equipped to fill. Based on her own experience, she thoughtfully describes how children in care adapt to their home and care situations and how, in adulthood, feelings of low self-worth can persist. She shares her journey in overcoming internal and external obstacles to arrive to where she is today.
About the podcast – Stories from Foster Care is brought to you by the Irish Foster Care Association in association with the Department of Children, Disability & Equality. Join host Niamh Barrett as she meets people from all walks of life who have different experiences of foster care in Ireland. Listen to Stories from Foster Careon Spotify, Apple, Nearcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure to subscribe for all the latest episodes.
In this episode of Stories from Foster Care, Andrew Murphy talks to Scott and Tristan Casson-Rennie about their adoption and fostering journeys as a same-sex couple. The conversation then focuses on their passion, as founders of FASD Ireland, to bring awareness about the effects of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) to all areas of Irish society. FASD results when prenatal alcohol exposure occurs, by either parent, and affects the developing foetus’ brain and body. Tristan offers valuable insights into the nature and prevalence of FASD, essential listening for foster carers, adoptive parents, and anyone who may be supporting a child affected by or showing signs of the condition.
In this episode of Stories from Foster Care, Andrew Murphy is speaking with Maureen Gannon. Maureen has been fostering for over 13 years and three years ago began offering emergency placement care. Drawing from her experience of over 150 placements, Maureen talks about the role models that inspired her to become a foster carer, the losses and joys of emergency placement fostering, and the self-care practices that keep her balanced and well.
The music on this podcast is a track called Pastures by Ketsa, the music appears here under a Creative Commons Licence. Stories from Foster Care is made with the Near FM podcast network. For more information and how to get involved visit https://nearcast.ie/get-involved/
In this episode of Stories from Foster Care, Niamh is speaking with Elizabeth Ward and Bridget Power, Traveller women who are family access workers at Exchange House Ireland National Travellers Service in Dublin.
In a wide-ranging and illuminating conversation about the experiences of Traveller children in care, they touch upon their own upbringing as Travellers, and the activists and community and family members who inspired them. The conversation turns to the underlying discrimination in Irish society against Travellers, which results in a plethora of negative effects on families and children. Elizabeth and Bridget highlight the critical importance of cultural awareness among the settled fostering community, so that traveller children are not denied an experience of their cultural identity. They describe how a great source of cultural awareness for children and families, both Traveller and settled, is the children’s book TheFairy Queen written by Elizabeth’s mother, writer Chrissie Donoghue Ward.
To close the conversation, Elizabeth reads one of her mother’s poems, written for her daughter at a time when she was facing challenges in school.
Exchange House Ireland National Travellers Service can be contacted at:
In this two-part interview, Niamh is speaking with Katie Wrench. Katie is a social worker, art psychotherapist and author. She and her family have also been respite foster carers. Katie was IFCA’s keynote speaker at its 2022 conference, Wrapped in Relationships.
Katie Wrench is a deeply experienced, empathetic and engaging communicator. She has so much to share that we decided to release her episode in two parts.
In part one, she talks about her pathway into social work and, with some brilliant stories and examples, she shares some of the valuable learning she received along the way.
In part two we delve into Life Story Work, a practice that Katie has written two books about. She is now involved in training practitioners in the BUSS model (Building Underdeveloped Sensorimotor Systems). She shares her thoughts on what is really needed in the field of foster care in this moment.
In this episode of Stories from Foster Care, Andrew is speaking with Kai Brosnan. Kai spent time in residential care and he shares his lived experience in a way that dispels a few myths and encourages a better understanding of it. Kai speaks movingly about the people, organisations such as EPIC, and even the beloved pet who have been beacons of support for him on his care journey. He has just completed his studies in Social Care and will clearly be a strong and inspiring advocate for the care-experienced community in the years to come.
In this episode of Stories from Foster Care, Niamh is talking to Andrea Reilly.
Andrea is a passionate advocate for other young people, particularly those with lived experience in care.
Andrea is committed to shining a light on the misunderstood, under-acknowledged and under-diagnosed condition of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) by speaking from her own lived experience of it. As a key member of EPIC (Empowering People in Care) she focuses specifically on FASD and care experience, and on Aftercare.
In an inspiring conversation Andrea reflects in-depth on her experience of living with FASD, stepping into the role of advocate, how Aftercare provision needs to change, and the role her foster mother in particular has played in her development.
She mentioned the following organisations:
FASD Ireland (national conference takes place on May 22, 2025)
A new episode of Stories from Foster Care drops on all podcast platforms on Tuesday Dec 2nd. Featuring father and foster daughter Niall Sheehan and Lauren O’Toole. An honest and wide-ranging conversation about the ups and downs of foster care, and a glimpse into a deep fostering relationship.
In this latest episode of Stories from Foster Care, Niamh talks to Shaunagh Cunningham about her childhood experiences before being taken into care, her current work as an advocate for children in care through the Care Experiences project, and her perspective as a member of Tusla staff. The conversation with this passionate young advocate is honest and both heartbreaking and heartening. The topic of sexual abuse is mentioned briefly and so listener discretion is advised.
Find out more about the Care Experiences project at:
Our guest on this episode of the Stories from Foster Care podcast is Fiona Neary, author of Parcels in the Post: Growing up with Fifty Siblings. She joins Niamh over Zoom for an honest, reflective and wide-ranging conversation which touches on many aspects of the care system in Ireland. Fiona shares her experiences of fostering in the Ireland of the 1980s and 90s, and she also talks about how she went on to become a passionate advocate for those without a voice in Irish society – a passion that the experience of fostering instilled in her.
In this episode of the podcast Niamh talks to Sadie Harpur, author of The Hidden World of a Foster-Girl (co-written with journalist and author Jackie Hayden). Sadie talks about her experience in infancy of undergoing multiple moves in care, her relationships with her twin sister Kizzy and her birth- and foster-families , and some of the turning points and people that brought stability to her life.
The Hidden World of a Foster Girl is available to buy at
Bridge Street books, Wicklow town,
Hampton’s bookshop, Donnybrook, Dublin 4
And in local bookshops in Maynooth, Wexford town, Gorey, Enniscorthy and Rosslare.
Our guests on the twelfth episode of the Stories from Foster Care podcast are Josie Corr and Thomas Monahan, a foster carer and her now-adult foster son who join Andrew Murphy over Zoom. In a reflective and honest conversation they talk to Andrew about their lives together in fostering. Among other topics, they explore the importance of understanding the system so that children in care can access the full range of supports available to them, especially regarding aftercare.
In this episode of Stories from Foster Care, Niamh sits down with social worker Sola Mobolaji and family support worker Doris Abuchi-Ogbonda to talk about how foster carers and others can support African children in care. Together they explore the experiences of unaccompanied minors and the challenges for young people of navigating the asylum process. They look at how Irish people might have viewed African children in the past, how present-day racism affects children in care and their caregivers, and the importance of cultural awareness in caring for children from African countries.
Resources for further information and participation:
In this episode of Stories from Foster Care, Andrew Murphy talks to Lisa Clancy. Lisa and her family are fostering three children with disabilities. Lisa gives a powerful insight into the ups and downs of the day-to-day experiences of fostering and she shines a light on just what it takes to care for children with disabilities in Ireland. In an honest and inspiring conversation, she describes the often arduous process of advocating for the support needs of her foster children.
In this episode of Stories from Foster Care, Niamh Barrett of IFCA talks to Dr Danielle Douglas. Danielle is a care-experienced academic and researcher at the South East Technological University, and a former relative foster carer who reflects on a lifetime of experience of the care system in Ireland from all of these perspectives. Her story is wide-ranging and powerful. It includes a brief mention of suicide at approximately 18 minutes.
On the latest episode of Stories from Foster Care Niamh Barrett talks to Catherine Joyce. For over 35 years Catherine has been a member of the Irish Traveller’s human rights movement. She’s also a theatre-maker and collaborator. She is a strong advocate for the rights of Traveller children, including Traveller children in care, and has been a foster carer herself. She speaks about how important it is to preserve the dual identity of Traveller children in care and she calls for good quality education about Traveller cultural identities to be rolled out across the care system.
In this latest episode of Stories from Foster Care, Andrew Murphy talks to Harold Barber and Michael Shannon about their experiences of coming into fostering as a gay couple, and about fostering separated young people who come to Ireland as migrants. In a wide-ranging chat, they speak compassionately and honestly about some of the challenges and the joys of supporting separated young people.
Paul Harrison has occupied roles in the care system in Ireland for decades, ranging from working as a social worker in child protection in the Eastern Health Board to management in Tusla—Child and Family Agency. In our conversation he talked about some of the experiences that have stayed with him over the years, some of which are included in his book, Hanged if you do. He spoke passionately about the need to go back to basics in the child protection system and about what he would like to see happen in the foster care system in the future.
In this episode of Stories from Foster Care, Andrew Murphy of IFCA talks to members of the fostering community whose voices sometimes go unheard – foster fathers. Andrew talks to Ric Panza and Raymond Nolan about what drew them to fostering, how years of experience have changed their perception of the foster carers’ role, and what the challenges and joys of being a foster father are.
We are delighted to share with you our 4th podcast from Stories from Foster Care. This episode features Sandra Parker, a foster carer who is now also working with Tusla—Child and Family Agency to train other prospective foster carers. Sandra, from Clonmel in Tipperary, is from a family of foster carers (two of her three sisters also foster). She shares stories and insights from 21 years of fostering: who her early role model of care was, what inspired her to begin, what the challenges and rewards have been, and what anyone thinking about fostering needs to know.
World-renowned hockey goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran is our guest on this episode of the Stories from Foster Care podcast. Ayeisha chats to us about hockey as a source of support through the difficult years after her mother died and she came into the care system. She tells us about the people who supported her in her passion for the game and how she found ways to resource herself to keep going. Today she’s an advocate for children and young people in care and she has powerful messages of encouragement to share with them. This was an inspiring conversation.
Our guest on the latest episode of the Stories from Foster Care podcast is Justice Catherine McGuinness. Catherine is the patron of The Irish Foster Care Association, a retired Supreme Court judge and an advocate for the rights of children in Ireland for many decades. Niamh Barrett and Catherine discuss her early life in Belfast, her involvement in the evolution of children’s rights in Ireland and the challenges facing foster carers today. A really engaging conversation follows, with an inspirational figure within the Irish Foster Care landscape.
Our guest on this inaugural episode of the Stories from Foster Care podcast is Anne McCluskey, a foster carer and retired school principal. We talked about Anne’s journey as a foster carer, and her perspectives on supporting foster children through the education system. Anne is a passionate advocate for the rights of children in care and she has a wealth of experience and knowledge. We could have talked for hours!
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Irish Foster Care Association
