Tributes outside the Department of Children in Dublin for Vadym Davydenko, a Ukrainian teenager who was fatally stabbed in an incident in Tusla emergency accommodation. Photograph: Bairbre Holmes/PA Wire
The term corporate parent is unfortunate, redolent of bureaucracy. It refers to the situation when Tusla must assume responsibility for a child’s wellbeing, health, and development because these needs cannot be met within the family, and relative or foster care is not a viable option due to complex needs.
Someone with decades of experience in residential child care recently said to me grimly that if Tusla as a corporate parent were a flesh-and-blood parent, its children would be taken away. His profound frustration and near-despair arise from having watched the neglect of children’s residential care for decades, including sidelining the voluntary se
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