There's a call for increased funding for training courses and education for foster parents.
It's in a bid to better equip them and their families in supporting young people in their care, according to Grainne McPhillips, Aontú's LEA candidate for Ballyjamesduff in the upcoming local elections.
She says the state needs to invest in the people who are investing in vulnerable children.
Adding that foster Parents are the unsung heroes who do it because they want to care, to share and to love these very vulnerable and often damaged children who come to live with them.
Grainne McPhillips says they receive scant support in the main and she is calling for a full programme of training and education in the area of trauma and trauma informed care, so as to give foster parents the therapeutic and social support they need.