I was not put up to it, says Deputy who raised foster homes issue in the States

On 16 July, St Helier Deputy Judy Martin asked Senator Syvret – who now faces a proposal to dismiss him as minister because of the nature of his verbal attacks on States staff and others – a question during ‘questions without notice’ about foster homes. Senator Syvret’s response that he had serious concerns about child protection standards and was considering commissioning a major independent review set in train the sacking of the Jersey Child Protection Committee chairman who had called for his dismissal, a major ministerial fall-out, Data Protection Law investigations and next Tuesday’s dismissal debate. Deputy Martin, who had served on the Health and Social Services Committee under Senator Syvret, says that when she asked her question about foster homes, she had no idea where it would lead. ‘It was not planned, and I was not put up to it,’ said Deputy Martin. ‘I was always concerned when I was on Health about where we were going. They had more money last year for “professional foster parents”, but the money does not help if you cannot recruit people.’