Caroline McGregor

University of Galway | NUI Galway · Political Science and Sociology UCFRC

Purpose Participation is the active involvement of children and young people in decision-making regarding issues that affect their lives. It is crucial in the context of child protection and welfare systems and how they respond to the needs of children and young people. The purpose of this paper is to report on the evaluation of child and family pa...

Concerns about young people’s disengagement from civic and political life, particularly disengagement of those from marginalized backgrounds, are prominent in contemporary discourse and increasingly serve as an impetus driving youth policy. Effectively engaging disadvantaged youth, however, can be difficult, and the factors that contribute to these...

The objective of this paper is to inform a critical analysis of how the media portray family support in Ireland. Findings of a content analysis carried out on national and regional Irish newspapers between 2014 and 2017 are presented which describe communication about family support services provided by Tusla—Child and Family Agency. Results show t...

The aim of this article is to outline a systemic lifecycle approach to social policy practice in social work. Evidence from the field of parenting and child welfare within an Irish context will be used for illustration. We avail of the work of Nancy Fraser to provide the theoretical framework. Drawing from approaches used mostly in public policy ed...

Understanding the characteristics, motivations and experiences of student social workers is important to inform their professional education and support needs. To date there has been relatively little research about social work students in Ireland, both North and South. This study reports on an all-Ireland survey of students beginning their social...

This paper argues that attention to theory and practice relating to civic and political engagement (CPE) can lead to a stronger value orientation among social workers towards human rights and social justice when working with marginalised young people. Based on findings of a study based on three European cities (Dublin, Belfast and London), we demon...

Over the past decade and more, there has been a significant emphasis in western societies on policy processes to engage youth in civic and political life. Concerns about the extent to which marginalized urban young people in particular have become disengaged from civic and political life has been a common, and contested, theme in youth policy. Curr...

In this article, our intention is to provide an in-depth framework to inform the management of the inevitable complexity of day-today practice and supervision in child protection and welfare. It is based on what is now well evidenced about child protection and welfare literature in relation to risk, relationships, family support, supervision, and p...

The aim of this article is to consider critically the relationship between professional and public understandings of Family Support. It is based on research comprising baseline and follow-up population surveys carried out with 1000 respondents to establish levels of public awareness of the Parenting, Prevention and Family Support services provided...

This article explores the factors that influenced team leader decision-making processes about pathways for duty/intake referrals in one TUSLA region in the Republic of Ireland. It provides an overview of theories relating to decision making focused on systems, risk, relationships and processes. An ecological framework is presented as the conceptual...

This chapter presents three proposed theoretical frameworks that can be usefully applied in working in the field of child sexual abuse (CSA). It argues that the functions of empathy, social support and socialisation, and ecological theories can offer a theoretical framework to deal with the challenges associated with CSA and offers improved guidanc...

The issue of child sexual exploitation (CSE) is firmly in the public spotlight internationally and in the UK, but just how well is it understood? To date, many CSE-related services have been developed in reaction to high profile cases rather than being designed more strategically. This book breaks new ground by considering how psychosocial, feminis...

This article explores whether paradigms for social work that helped structure and focus social work theory in the late 20th century can continue to inform social work theorising in the present day. The question is considered by reviewing the work of Burrell and Morgan (1979), Howe (1987), Whittington and Holland (1985), Johnson et al., 1984 (cited...

This paper focuses on qualitative findings on how young people in long-term foster care in Ireland interpret permanence and stability. We focus principally on subjective and relational permanence, emphasising the significance of these concepts for social work, while extending some conceptual approaches to permanence. Importantly, findings from this...

This paper critically examines the relationship between statutory family support and child protection using the case study of Ireland. It builds on the work of Devaney and McGregor (2017) to offer an additional contribution to existing frameworks for practice through adapting the Hardiker Exton and Barker (1991) model of prevention. Using evidence...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is a micro-level examination of the role and function of cooperative research centers (CRCs) in entrepreneurial universities from a principal investigator (PI) perspective. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a qualitative research design and is based on 38 semi-structured interviews with PIs who are pub...

The focus of this collection is the promise of public health approaches to child protection and welfare systems development and delivery, and this chapter is a case study of what such an approach looks like in practice. It is built on the experience of a programme of action developed in the Republic of Ireland – the Programme for Prevention, Partne...

This paper reports on a qualitative study of outcomes for permanence and stability for children in long-term care in Ireland. The aim of this research was to inform social work practitioners on how to enhance stability and permanence for children and to inform decision making and report writing for children in care. The research was designed and de...

This paper is based on findings from an Irish study of permanence and stability outcomes for children in long-term care which involved biographical narrative interviews with 27 children, young people, parents and foster carers. The study concluded that power and power relations featured significantly in the narratives of our interviewees. To advanc...

This article is based on a study of two early years services in the West of Ireland which was attended mostly by asylum seekers. Using a sample of the findings for illustration, we discuss how the study captured an example of culturally sensitive practice that demonstrated an ability to counteract some of the negative effects of being an asylum see...

This chapter provides an overview of the Irish child protection and welfare system, and examines continuities and discontinuities between the past and the present. 2012 is chosen as a pivotal change moment around which to critically examine current developments. This year is chosen due to seminal change events which occurred such as a referendum on...

A review of Global and European policies supporting youth civic and political engagement

Youth civic engagement - perspectives of stakeholders and youth in Northern Ireland, Ireland and England

This study presents an original contribution to knowledge through investigating the impact and lived experience of economic recession for intellectually disabled young people and their families in Ireland, who use services from the disability sector. This is important because in 2008, Ireland was hit with the greatest period of economic recession s...

The topic of institutionalisation and child welfare in Ireland has garnered increasing national and international public and scholarly attention over the past twenty years. This is not an Irish phenomenon. Governments internationally have utilised commissions to investigate a range of historical abuses against children and young adults, many in an...

McGregor, C. & Nic Gabhainn, S. (2018) Public Awareness of Parenting, Prevention and Family Support Services: Population Survey Final Report. Galway: UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, National University of Ireland Galway.

This article draws on qualitative evidence from an evaluation of the “Greater Tomorrow” Crèche and Ballyhaunis Community Preschool in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, Ireland in 2016. The article focuses on the approach to practice and the underlying ethos of these two services, reflecting a clearly articulated respect for diversity and the privileging of rel...

This article considers how adoption may develop as viable option for permanency planning for children in care in Ireland following the Constitutional Referendum in 2012 on Children’s Rights. In order to be prepared to consider how adoption can be developed as a viable alternative to long term care, we need to focus on the specific context of Irelan...

This article reports on the outcomes of a research study on the early implementation of a strengths-based family-centred model of practice in Ireland known as the Meitheal model. The paper aims to translate the key messages from this research to practice with families involved in the child welfare system. This is done by highlighting the process by...

This paper focuses on informal social support and coping amongst parents living in a Direct Provision (DP) reception centre in the rural west of Ireland. Since 2000, asylum seekers in Ireland are subject to DP where the state provides accommodation and food to asylum seeking families, and a small supplementary allowance. Despite calls for its aband...

Disabled children experience unique vulnerabilities in the context of child protection and welfare services. Current research alludes to strong concerns about social inequality, professional responses, judgement, knowledge and awareness limitations, and practical constraints. This article presents a focused commentary on the literature pertaining t...

Meitheal is a national practice model which aims to ensure that the needs and strengths of children and their families are effectively identified, understood and responded to in a timely manner. The aim of this article is to consider some of the notable learning from the historical background and context in the development of children and family se...

The aim of this paper is to report on the evaluation of two standardised training programmes provided by the statutory children and family service in the Republic of Ireland in 2012. This involved an evaluation of Children First Basic Level Training, which was delivered to all staff employed in the statutory services, and Keeping Safe, Basic Level...

This paper provides a critical commentary on researching social work in transition to make the case for why history is important at crucial moments of change. The present transition of child protection and welfare practice from a Health Services Executive Structure to an Independent Child and Family Agency (Tusla) is focused on for illustration. Th...

This article provides a response to the recent paper in this Journal by Ray Jones entitled ‘The best of times, the worst of times: Social work and it's moment’. Jones' paper is welcomed for its use of history to inform the current debates about expertise and identity. The objective of this response is to address a perceived gap in Jones' paper with...