Access
Access may conveniently be described as a right and duty of visitation, allowing the person having access to visit with and communicate with a child on a temporary basis. While the order for access is often coined in terms of parental rights, it is probably more accurate to see access as a right of the child.
In all cases where a child is in foster care, the care plan should make provision for the granting of reasonable access to the child's parents and other relatives. Section 37 of the Child Care Act 1991 obliges the HSE, in foster care cases, to facilitate reasonable access to the child by his or her parents, by any person acting in loco parentis in respect of the child or by any person who has a bona fide interest in the child. The last mentioned person may include a grandparent or grown-up sibling.
Until January 9, 1998, only a parent or guardian of a child could apply for access to a child. Since the commencement of section 9 of the Children Act 1997, however, section 11B of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 enables certain additional persons to apply to the court to be afforded access to a child. These persons include the relative of a child or a person who has acted in loco parentis in respect of the relevant child. A person in loco parentis may include, for instance, a former foster parent.
Some people may be unhappy with the access arrangements made, if this is the case then you should contact your social worker and try and work through the situation. However it is open to any person to apply to the court for appropriate direction.
Taken from an article entitled "Access and Foster Care" by Geoffrey Shannon, solicitor and author of Child Care Law.