McCare
About · Mission & vision

McCare
why we do this, and where we're going.

Our mission

At McCare, our mission is to provide high-quality, safe, and person-centred services through a skilled, supported, and professional care team. We are committed to operating in a manner that is ethical, compliant, and respectful, while creating a working environment where employees are treated with dignity, fairness, and supported to uphold high standards and fulfil their roles in line with current policies and best practices.

Through our children's residential services, including supports for Separated Children Seeking International Protection (SCSIP), our aftercare and preparation for leaving care programmes, and our disability services, we work to create safe, structured, and supportive environments where individuals can build stability, develop independence, and participate meaningfully in their communities.

Our vision

Our vision is to be a trusted provider of children's residential, aftercare, and disability services, recognised for safe practice, strong governance, transparency, and consistently high standards of quality care in our service delivery and across our care team.

We aim to:

  • Deliver small-scale, community-based services that promote dignity, inclusion, and measurable positive outcomes.
  • Support successful transitions into adulthood and independent living through structured, person-centred progression pathways.
  • Provide sustainable, high-quality, person-led disability supports grounded in safety, choice, accountability, and continuous improvement.
  • Build and maintain a professional care team culture defined by integrity, competence, supervision, and excellence in practice.
Our values

What guides the work.

Dignity and Respect

We uphold and support the right to dignity and the right of individuality for each and every person in our services.

Safety and Quality

We endeavour to deliver safe, high-quality services through our model of strong governance and accountability. Our commitment to the continuous improvement of our services is part of our culture at McCare.

Person-Centred Practice

Our principles are based on dignity, choice and inclusion. We tailor supports to each person's needs, strengths and goals to promote stability, growth and independence, while fostering connection, belonging and active participation in the community.

Integrity and Compliance

We act ethically and transparently, meeting all regulatory, safeguarding and statutory requirements. We uphold all legal and regulatory obligations in relation to legislation and compliance.

Professionalism and Workforce Support

We invest in our people through training, supervision, fairness and clear accountability.

Collaboration and Partnership

We work with families, statutory partners, MDTs and communities to deliver consistent, joined-up support.

How it started

Two years old,
decades in the making.

The company is new. The senior team has been doing this work for a long time, in a number of other places, and chose to start again in a way they wanted to.

McCare was founded in 2024 to provide children's residential care in Ireland. Like a lot of two-year-old services in this sector, the first stretch was slow: paperwork, compliance, and the careful work of becoming the kind of provider Tusla and the HSE will trust with vulnerable people.

We now operate five children's residential homes across Ireland. In addition, we provide disability and aftercare services, both of which accept direct referrals. Around thirty-five individuals currently access our services. We expect to continue growing across aftercare, preparation-for-leaving-care and disability services as our team develops and capacity allows.

We are a growing company and our aim is not only to expand the services available to the individuals we support, but also to create meaningful opportunities for progression and development for our valued team members.

The decision to build McCare came from a senior team who had already spent careers in residential and disability services elsewhere. They wanted a smaller place, person-centred by structural choice rather than by slogan, where the model of care isn't a poster on the wall and inspection reports are something the service publishes rather than hides.

Most providers in the Irish sector specialise in one service. We hold three and have built around the transitions between them. Most providers are rural; we base our services in the communities people actually come from, because the individuals we support deserve access to the schools, services, communities and opportunities available in the areas they know and belong to.

What we believe

Five ideas
the practice is built on.

We don't apply these as clinical interventions. We translate them into how the team behaves on a Tuesday afternoon. Together they make the GROUND → GROWTH model of care.

Trauma-informed and phased

Children can't engage with development or future planning while they feel unsafe. Safety and stabilisation come before progression. We never require trauma disclosure to access care.

After Judith Herman

Human needs

Development depends on foundational needs being met: safety, belonging, stability. Without those in place, the rest doesn't land. People move back and forth between needs over time.

After Abraham Maslow

Attachment and relational

Young people develop emotional regulation, resilience and identity through consistent, reliable relationships. Trust is built through reliability and repair after rupture, not through demands.

After John Bowlby

Emerging adulthood

Development continues beyond eighteen. The years from roughly 18 to 25 are a distinct developmental stage; aftercare is a continuation of that work, not the end of it. Independence is scaffolded gradually and relationally.

After Jeffrey Jensen Arnett

Rights-based and child-centred

Young people are active participants in decisions affecting their lives. Information about rights, advocacy and complaints is explained accessibly, in age-appropriate ways, and revisited over time.

UN Convention tradition

Read the full model of care
How we work

What we hold to.

Person-first, every time

Every placement starts with the individual we support: their needs, their pace, the people in their life. The model bends to the person, not the other way around.

Honest about what we do

Care is hard work. We don't dress it up with awards copy or marketing language. We tell you what to expect, what we're good at, and where we're still learning.

Slow growth, properly staffed

We open new services when the team is ready, not when there's pressure to take more placements. Quality stays the constant.

In partnership

Tusla, the HSE, families, schools, GPs, advocates: we work as one team around each individual we support. They don't have to be a translator between us.

What's next

Join the team,
or place a young person.

If you're considering working with us, the careers page is where to start. If you're a referrer, the referrals page walks through each pathway. If you're a family considering us, the contact form goes straight to a senior team member.

Join the teamHow a referral worksGet in touch