Placement Support Project (PSP)
Intensive therapeutic support service to create placement stability when placements are at risk of break down.
Stabilising placements, supporting family unity.
The Placement Support Project (PSP) is a nationally unique trauma informed, attachment based, systemically responsive service. The placement support project embodies AMBIT practices and consists of 2 distinct service supports.
A short-term residential support staffed by experienced social care staff.
Alongside a community based multidisciplinary team consisting of therapeutic social work, social care, occupational therapy, systemic family therapy, and assistant psychology.
The community-based team brings together multidisciplinary expertise to develop clear, goal-oriented intensive intervention.
The service is highly adaptive to the level and nature of support of what is needed at the point of crisis.
At the heart of our approach is building good relationships that can hold complexity – supporting young people and those caring for them to feel understood, develop greater relational attunement, repair ruptures and build more sustainable ways of being together.
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PSP operates across two strands:
- The Community Team provides community or clinic-based support
to the child, family and their network over a focused 14-week period. The service is crisis responsive offering a no wait-list, with up to three appointments per week with multidisciplinary input for the whole family. - Castle House offers a short-term Emergency Place of Safety
for children/young people who have experienced placement breakdown or where emergency respite is needed for young people open to the community-based team. Providing care and accommodation for up to a maximum 29 consecutive nights while a suitable onward placement is being sought.
This can support the work with the young person and their parents/carers by reducing relational tensions and facilitating ‘thinking through’ challenges to develop a plan to return home.
In 2026 the Team expanded to cover a wider catchment profile. This coincided with Tusla reorganisation, with the aim to provide services to families in Cork, Kerry and South Tipperary.
The team uses an AMBIT systemically informed approach
to working with high risk/complex family systems. It is the first in the country to provide this type of service.
The team is crisis responsive, flexible, and operates a no wait list.
The team aims to develop systems around the child and family to strengthen and integrate help and provide support to the family where they feel they need.
- Multidisciplinary team: social work, social care, psychology, OT and family therapy
- Two strands: 14-week community programme and 2 dual occupancy units: Emergency Place of Safety (Castle House and The Willows).
- Trauma-informed, rapid-response model focused on relational repair
- Collaborative family support plans (FSP) are developed with families to achieve desired goals.
Relationally focused
where families have a complex relationship with help.
To support networks and professionals struggling to engage and meet the needs of complex family systems.
Currently open to families across Cork and Kerry and South Tipperary.
Who This Service Is For
PSP works with children, carers and families where; It is deemed that the biological family or foster placement is at high-risk of breakdown. The child/young person is on the edge of being received into statutory Care. The team also supports reunification from residential/ foster care to home placements.
- Children and young people aged 0–18 known to the Tusla Social Work Department with an allocated social worker or point of contact Home arrangement or foster placement assessed as high-risk of breakdown and requiring intensive intervention. A child is clearly on the edge of care and/or at risk of an SEA referral, or in temporary residential care, based on professional assessment. Open to referrals from Cork, Kerry and South Tipperary
In the community, where it matters most
The PSP Community Team works directly alongside children, foster carers and their wider network during a focused 14-week period. Drawing on expertise across social work, social care, psychology, occupational therapy and family therapy, the team builds a tailored family support plan (FSP) around the specific needs of family with the overall goal of; Stabilising the foster placement, Maintaining family unity Developing a pathway for continued support following PSP input.
A safe space when it’s needed most
Castle House offers a short-term Emergency Place of Safety, for children or young people who have experienced placement breakdown. We provide care and accommodation for up to a maximum 29 consecutive nights while a suitable onward placement is being sought. We also provide emergency respite for the young people open to our Community Team.
The houses provide dual-occupancy space, it is a home-from-home environment in a residential setting. Each child/young person has their own bedroom, with private ensuite. A bespoke placement plan is formulated following admission to ensure every child/young person has their individual needs met, and are given every opportunity to achieve their full potential while in our care.
Tailored support for every person in the placement
PSP recognises that a placement under strain affects everyone involved — the child, the carer, and the wider family.
Support is tailored accordingly.
Work with the young person may include:
• Emotional regulation
• Psychoeducation
• Relationship building
• Routine and day-to-day support
• Advocacy
• Rupture – repair.
• Attachment and trauma and mental health informed understanding of need.
Work with the parent or carer may include:
• Parenting support and psycho-education
• Systemic family therapy
• Mental health and wellbeing intervention
Collaborative care plans are developed with the family and implemented based on a thorough needs assessment, with shared goals agreed at the outset of intervention.
Specialist expertise at every level
The Placement Support Project is a multi-disciplinary outreach support service.
PSP provides bespoke, intensive therapeutic intervention to children, parents and/or foster carers and the network where the home arrangement or foster placement is at high-risk of breakdown.
We provide a 14-week individualized support package tailored to the presenting needs and challenges identified within the home. Through a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach we formulate evidence-based interventions underpinned by an Adaptive Mentalization Based Integrative Therapy (AMBIT) Approach.
"Keeping relationships at the heart of placement stability, repair and safety."
Outcomes
- A formal service evaluation from 2025 demonstrated its impact in Cork. This report showed 65% of high risk young people remained at home following PSP intervention.
- The service has stabilised foster placements; preventing breakdowns, and has supported children and their families to maintain family unity.
- At the heart of PSP’s work are five core aims: 1. Reduce the risk of placement breakdown through comprehensive, integrated, preventative intervention 2. Provide timely, co-ordinated clinical responses to presenting challenges 3. Facilitate relational repair and reconnection between the young person and their family or carers 4. Strengthen the capacity of carers, family and placement providers to manage complex emotional, behavioural and attachment needs 5. Engage with other services to ensure long-term scaffolding and support for families
- Foster placement stability is one of the most pressing challenges in the Irish child protection system today.
- When placements break down, children experience further disruption, loss and trauma — often compounding the trauma they have already endured. PSP directly addresses this, preventing breakdown where possible and minimising further trauma.
Outcome data, including placement stabilisation rates, is captured and reported to Tusla.
Referral Details
Referrals to PSP must be approved by the Tusla Gatekeeper before they can proceed.
If you are a Tusla social worker or team leader with a case where a foster placement is under serious strain, please discuss a possible referral with your Team Lead and contact us for futher information.
We aim to assess referrals quickly and respond as rapidly as possible where a placement is in immediate crisis.
Where a case does not meet the referral criteria, we can discuss and signpost point towards other appropriate supports.
PSP currently operates across Cork and Kerry and South Tipperary. — if you are based outside this region and would like to know more, please get in touch.
Referral Criteria:
- Child/young person known to Tusla Social Work with an allocated social worker or point of contact
- Home arrangement or foster placement at high risk of breakdown requiring intensive intervention
- Child on the edge of care and/or at risk of an SEA referral
- Young Person aged 0-17 Years
- Cork, Kerry and South Tipperary regions
How quickly can PSP respond in a crisis?
PSP is a rapid response therapeutic service. When a foster placement is at high-risk of breakdown, or where a child/young person is on the cusp of being received into Care the team mobilises support as quickly as possible. Contact Rachel Geary directly for an informal case consultation.
What is the difference between the Community Team and Castle House?
The Community Team delivers intensive outreach support over 12 weeks, working with the child and their caregivers.
Castle House offers a short-term Emergency Place of Safety, for children/young people who have experienced a complete placement breakdown. We provide them with care and accommodation for up to a maximum 29 consecutive nights while a suitable onward placement is being sought. We also provide emergency respite for the young people open to our Community Team.
Who needs to approve a referral?
All referrals must be approved by the Tusla Gatekeeper before they are submitted. If you are unsure whether a case meets the criteria, contact us directly and we can discuss it with you.
Can families outside Cork and Kerry access PSP?
No. PSP is currently funded to operate in Cork and Kerry. National expansion is underway.
Is PSP a long-term service?
PSP is an intensive, time-limited support service, that works intensely with children/young people and their caregivers.
Could this service help someone you support?
When you’re ready, follow the referral steps to get in touch with our team.
