Foster carers are needed urgently in Co Kerry, the Southern Health Board has said. The current number of 81 foster carers for 85 children in the county is simply not enough and needs to be at least doubled, it said.
More children needed foster care, whether for a weekend or a year, yet there were fewer carers, a statement said.
The so-called Celtic Tiger, which had encouraged more people to work full-time, meant there were fewer full-time foster carers in Kerry.
There are many reasons children are received into the care of the health board to be placed with a foster family. These include bereavement, parents with mental health problems or addictions, or children being left without care when their parent or parents have to be hospitalised.
Alcoholic tendency among parents, leading to the neglect of children, was at times a factor, explained Ms Theresa O'Donoghue, fostering social worker with the health board. From time to time, a small number of refugee children needed foster parents.
Generally, the number of children taken into care through court orders was on the increase, she added. Carers for children of all ages - from birth to 18 - were needed, though the board's priority was for those aged five to 14.