Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

Book Review: Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church: Gender, Power and Organizational Culture

Rosaleen McElvaney — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 11:02:16 PDT

Parenting and Family Support for Families 'at risk' - Implications from Child Abuse Reports

Ann Marie Halpenny — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:56:36 PDT

The importance of family experiences on children’s development and wellbeing has been widely documented. Yet, recent reports generated by inquiries into child abuse and neglect in the Irish context raise disturbing questions with regard to how the severe maltreatment of children can occur within the family context. It is imperative that the messages generated from these inquiries can effectively inform policy and practice in terms of protecting children from harm and providing support to families at-risk. The present paper draws together key issues for parenting and family support for families ‘at risk’ based on the Roscommon and Monageer inquiries with a view to gaining insight into key issues which need to be addressed in terms of protecting children from harm and providing support for parents experiencing adversity. A number of implications arising from these reports are outlined and discussed. Specifically, the need to amplify the focus on support for parenting in the context of poverty and substance abuse is highlighted with a particular emphasis on developing sensitive screening and assessment for parents who may be difficult to engage with due to chronic mental health issues. The importance of accessing the voice of children within the provision of family support is also underlined in these findings. A key recommendation from these reports is that the needs, wishes and feelings of each child must be considered as well as the totality of the family situation. Moreover, the need for staff in child welfare and protection services to have access to ongoing training and professional development to meet the complex and changing needs of the children and families they are working with is also highlighted. Specifically, ongoing training for frontline staff in understanding the effects of drug and alcohol dependency, and, in particular, the effects on parenting and parent-child relationships is underscored in findings from these reports.

Gendered Processes in Child Protection: 'Mother-blaming' and the Erosion of Men's Accountability

Majella Mulkeen — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:52:34 PDT

The Inquiry Report of the Roscommon Child Care Case (HSE, 2010) was the first Inquiry Report into intra-familial child abuse and neglect in the Irish context to explicitly identify a gender dimension to its findings. This paper seeks to build on these observations and argues that an analysis of the gendering processes that underlie understandings of and responses to neglect, violence and abuse can make child protection policy and practice more effective. The absence of an analysis which places gender at the core of policy and practice in child protection and family support raises serious questions about the differentiated responses to women and men who are subject to and perpetrators of violence, rape and abuse. Constructions of femininity and masculinity within child protection which systematically excludes fathers and mitigate sexual abuse by mothers must be addressed in order to enhance the support offered to parents and the quality of protection available to children. In addition a discourse of ‘mother-blaming’ which renders women responsible for matters over which they have little control and the reinforcement of men’s power when their abuse remains invisible in professional interventions are the unintended consequences of ignoring the gender dimension of work in this challenging field. The findings of this paper suggest that a gender lens may contribute to better practice in child protection and the greater likelihood that children will be protected and parents supported, each according to their need.

Using Intelligence to Shape Reforms in Child Protection

Helen Buckley — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:46:57 PDT

The Ryan Report, published in 2009, was not the first review of child welfare services to raise disquiet. Nevertheless it was unique in that its recommendations went beyond the deficits exposed by the report to comment on the entire child protection system. It is generally acknowledged that the model of child welfare that was the object of the Ryan Report no longer operates, and has been replaced by community based services and a system of regulated out of home care. However, on publication of the report, the government appeared to question whether, with what we now know, we can be assured that today’s services are fit for purpose. A number of reforms are underway as a result of the report, but the degree to which they are likely to achieve better outcomes for children and families is open to challenge. This paper will draw on existing sources of knowledge about the state of child protection in Ireland, including statistical data, empirical research, reviews and policy papers. It will also look at how other jurisdictions have used comparable data sources to tackle similar issues and consider how we can benefit from international experience.

Ireland's Opportunity to Learn from England's Difficulties? Auditing Uncertainty in Child Protection

Brid Featherstone et al. — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 07:21:44 PDT

This article draws from the authors’ experiences of research in England on aspects of New Labour’s reforms in the field of child protection to counsel caution against standardisation processes currently underway in the Republic of Ireland. It is argued that such processes are deeply problematic when dealing with the complexity of child protection work. Alternatives to standardisation are offered drawing from the literature on systems design. Such alternatives are likely to build confidence and trust in services.

The Ryan Report (2009). A Practitioner's Perspective on Implications for Residential Child Care

Noel Howard — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 07:12:02 PDT

This article suggests that recent abuse reports and the Ryan Report in particular are now warning signs etched in the consciousness of social care workers. Quite rightly, this consciousness will determine how social care workers approach their work with children in the care system. In many care units the incessant, ostensibly plausible, demands of bureaucracy mean that children exist in an artificial, sanitised care bubble where they are bereft of structure, empathy, spontaneity and real relationships – the very things they crave. Written in a personal capacity and based on the author’s background practice experience, some of this article represents points of view rather than evidential conclusions. The article’s purpose is to contribute to debate, so necessary if lessons of the Ryan Report are really to be learned.

An Impossible Task? Implementing the Recommendations of Child Abuse Inquiry Reports in a Context of High Workloads in Child Protection and Welfare

Kenneth Burns et al. — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 07:06:46 PDT

This paper examines the issue of social workers’ caseloads in child protection and welfare in the Republic of Ireland. High caseloads impact on the type and quality of service provided to children and families, and on worker retention and job satisfaction. This exploratory paper examines the limited available evidence on social workers’ caseloads in the Republic of Ireland and presents data on child protection and welfare social workers’ perspectives on their caseloads drawn from a qualitative study. These analyses are set in the context of the Irish State’s commitments since the publication of the Ryan report. A central argument of this article is that the recommendations of successive child abuse inquiries in Ireland have given rise to expectations and demands on child protection and welfare teams that are not possible to meet given the increasing level of referrals and the high numbers of children for whom social workers are responsible.

Learning Lessons from the Past: Legal Issues Arising from Ireland's Child Abuse Reports

Ursula Kilkelly — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:22:24 PDT

Inquiries have played an important role in telling the stories of children abused and neglected in Ireland in situations of family abuse, clerical abuse and institutional abuse. The inquiries – associated with the name of the chairperson (Ryan) or by their geographical remit (Dublin, Ferns, Cloyne, Kilkenny and Roscommon) – serve to vindicate the rights of the children affected and to identify the failure of the authorities to protect children from harm. They also make numerous recommendations as to how children’s treatment can be improved. Although each inquiry had varying terms of reference, scope and status, together they address a wide range of issues of both specific and general significance to the issue of child protection. Focus is clearly placed on how child protection practice can be improved but many of the inquiries also comment on the legal framework and make recommendations for the reform of various aspects of child protection law and policy. This paper argues that the legal implications of these inquiries can be reduced to three overarching issues: the legislative provision for the mandatory reporting of child abuse; the need for robust and effective inspection mechanisms to ensure the protection of children, and the issue of constitutional law reform. The analysis shows that these measures are neither straightforward nor a panacea to the intractable problem of providing effective protection to children from abuse. However, taken with the other recommendations identified in the child abuse reports, they represent the beginning of a lasting legacy for the victims of abuse so tragically failed by their families, by the state and by society at large.

Foreword

Áine de Róiste et al. — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:55:14 PDT

Book Review: The Blue Wall of Silence: The Morris Tribunal and Police Accountability in Ireland

Shane Kilcommins — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 09:34:38 PDT

Mé Féin nó an Pobal: Social Processes and Connectivity in Irish Volunteering

Marie Claire Van Hout et al. — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 09:00:33 PDT

Irelandhas a longstanding history of diverse volunteer action (Volunteering Ireland, 2010a). Ireland’s current economic recession has impacted on the community and voluntary sector, with frequent contraction in staff numbers and incomes, and increasing reliance on volunteer participation (Harvey, 2012). This study utilised social capital theory to garner a phenomenological understanding of the contribution of volunteering to perceived social capital amongst Irish volunteers and host organisation representatives. A convenience sample of 28 participants (17 volunteers and 11 organisation representatives) was interviewed. A shift in personal and social definitions of volunteering were described, with informal volunteering increasingly replaced by structured, formalized and regulated volunteer placements. Volunteers described their experiences as contributing to increased personal well being and sense of purpose, development of friendships and meeting new people. The volunteer participants identified volunteering activity as a specified community need, providing work related experiences, fulfillment in free time and opportunity for up-skilling. Integration of volunteers into the organisation’s workforce was described as dependent on duration, intensity of interaction and scope of volunteer contributions. Power differentials and a lack of trust between volunteers and staff, was described, as was a lack of volunteer recognition staff. Subsequently, some volunteers identified and aligned themselves within the wider social volunteer network rather than their host organisation. The research reflected an emergent consumerist approach to volunteering and underscores the need to preserve informal social networks of community volunteers, alongside the development of more formalized work specific routes for volunteering inIreland.

A Qualitative Study of Workplace Stress and Coping in Secondary Teachers in Ireland

Robert A. Kerr et al. — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:44:09 PST

Teacher stress has received scant attention in Ireland. This study examines teachers’ perceptions of their daily stresses and how they attempt to cope with such situations. Interviews were conducted with fifteen secondary teachers from a variety of school types in eastern Ireland. The teachers showed great concern for their students, with some being prepared to ignore school guidelines in order to deal with their pupils’ needs. Several particularly stressful factors were identified, including the maintenance of boundaries (especially when dealing with students with personal problems), dealing with disruptive student behaviour, and the heavy workload. These stresses closely mirrored those described in international literature. Levels of stress and methods of dealing with stress varied widely among the sample, with primary support coming from their colleagues. One strong finding was the lack of suitable training and preparation felt by the participants, particularly in methods of dealing with sensitive and stressful situations in pupils, and in appropriate means of reaction to student misbehaviour. It is recommended that teacher-training courses include explicit training in dealing with such situations.

Self Injury and the Challenges of Responding to Young People in Care:The Experiences of a Sample of Social Care Workers

David Williams et al. — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:59:06 PST

This article explores the experiences of a sample of residential social care staff working with young people who self injure. Initially, a phone survey was conducted with residential centres caring for young people aged between 12-18 years located in Dublin, to identify centres where self injury had occurred within the twelve months prior to data collection in February 2008. Questionnaires were then sent to the centres where confirmed self injury had occurred and follow up interviews were thereafter conducted with ten residential social care workers. Each of the workers interviewed had been involved in managing the most recent incident of self injury in their centres. The article highlights important issues that are relevant to social care workers and other professionals who work with young people who engage in self injurious behaviour. The study suggests the need for specialised training on self injury to be provided to residential social care workers. The study also highlights the importance of supportive supervision and incident debriefing to reduce the personal and professional impact on workers of managing incidents of self injury in their work. Finally the study indicates that staff with different career experience seem to respond differently in managing incidents of self injury which, in turn, can impact upon how they meet the needs of young people in their care exhibiting self injurious behaviour.

'Race', Nation and Belonging in Ireland

Jonathan Mitchell — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 03:59:41 PST

Despite consistent efforts to counteract those attitudes and practices that give rise to it, most putatively modern Western nations continue to experience the concrete effects of racial discrimination. This essay argues that nationality is all too easily conflated with ‘race’ or ethnicity, such that a seeming essence or givenness is manifested amongst all those within a particular geographic boundary. It is suggested that on the contrary, there is nothing natural about nationality as commonly understood; this being so, it must be continually shored up and reconstituted through social, linguistic and material practices. For modern nations in the West, this has often entailed the marking or identification - racialisation - of non-nationals and non-white ‘Others’. A logic of inside/outside subtends the concept of nation wherein such Others are the ‘constitutive outside’ that invisibly clarifies and reinforces the status of those within. Nation, then, tacitly asserts and valorises its own putative qualities through the explicit identification and denigration of what it is not. It is argued that such a logic militates against the openness that might ground compassionate and empathetic relations between those ‘inside’ the nation and its new arrivals.

This article first outlines its theoretical position: that nation is a ‘fictive ethnicity’ maintained through the continual (re)inscription of unequal power relations, and that nations and their ‘people’ are hybridities without originary ontological status. It summarises thereafter the historic constitution of national identities within both Northern Ireland and Ireland. Finally, it considers the experience of three groups of ‘Others’ on the island of Ireland, namely Jews, Travellers and asylum seekers, and how such Otherness has been represented in order to bolster the identity of the nation. This idea of nation and the exclusions it instates are interrogated throughout, with the conclusion that any policies aimed at eliminating institutional and individual racism, however well-meant, will ultimately fall short until nation itself - and the identities it is involved in constituting - are rethought.

Tertiary Level Students and the Mental Health Index (MHI-5) in Ireland

Frank Houghton et al. — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:53:30 PDT

An examination of student mental health was conducted using the five item Mental Health Index (MHI), a subscale of the widely used SF-36 (Short Form Health Survey). Results support the use of the MHI, which was found to be to be a valid and reliable measure of mental health in Irish third-level students. As anticipated, females reported significantly higher levels of symptoms than males on the MHI. It was also noted that final year students report significantly worse mental health than other students. Comparison with a general population mean for a corresponding age group indicate significantly lower mental health status being recorded by the students in this study. Suggestions for further research are made.

'There isn't Anything like a GAL': The Guardian ad litem Service in Ireland

Ann McWilliams et al. — Tue, 10 May 2011 08:06:30 PDT

This article examines the role of the guardian ad litem service in Ireland within the context of public law proceedings. In the first part, the role of the guardian ad litem in Irish courts is outlined and this is followed by a discussion of the broader legal context informing the right of children to be heard in Irish courts. The article discusses some of the concerns about the lack of statutory regulation, standards and structure in the Irish guardian ad litem system. The tension inherent in expressing the wishes and views of children while making recommendations regarding their welfare and best interests is also considered. The article concludes with the view that giving children a statutory right to be heard which is not supported with adequate resources and proper frameworks is of limited value.

Ireland and the European Social Inclusion Strategy: Lessons Learned and the Road Ahead (European Anti Poverty Network Ireland., 2010): Book Review

John Pender — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 02:14:19 PST

Ireland of the Illusions: A Sociological Chronicle 2007-2008 (Share, P. & Corcoran, M.P. (Eds.) 2010): Book Review

Liam O'Dowd — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 02:14:17 PST

Holodomor, Famine in Ukraine 1932-1933: A Crime against Humanity or Genocide?

Renate Stark — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 04:13:07 PST

Famines in the main are man-made and not merely caused by the occurrences of food shortages, due to natural disasters. This article discusses the theories of famine in relation to food entitlement and adverse government policy. In the first part the focus is on the introduction of theories of famine, where it is examined in what way the entitlement and distribution of food, rather than food shortage, is often the underlying cause for famines. Famines are strongly enmeshed in either direct or indirect political decisions. Consequently, political systems have often intentionally created famine conditions and used starvation as a mechanism of repression. This fact makes these government officials some of history’s worst criminals.

In the second part, this article examines the case of Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932-33 and illustrates that not only political economy and forced collectivisation, but the intentional faminogenic behaviour of Stalin and a small group of his government officials, caused devastating starvation and the deaths of millions of people. This case moves the study of famine into the field of international law, in which Ukraine’s quest for UN recognition of Holodomor not only as a crime against humanity, but also as genocide, could be regarded as justified.

Criteria Based Case Review: The Parent Child Psychological Support Program

Pilar Bujia-Couso et al. — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:09:00 PST

The Parent Child Psychological Support Program (PCPS) was established in an area of South West Dublin in 2001. Since then until May 2008 it has offered its services to over 700 children and their parents. This preventative, parenting support service is available to all parents of children aged 3 to 18 months within its catchment area. During periodical visits, the infant’s development and growth are measured and parents receive specific information about their child’s progress. Parents are empowered in their parenting practices, thus promoting consistency and synchrony in parent-child interaction. Between 2001 and 2006, 538 parents and their infants participated in the Program. Out of these cases, 130 (24.16%) were considered to require additional support and were included in the Monthly Meeting Case Review (MM) based on initial concerns The aims of this study were: 1. to review the first five years of MM cases and to explore the socio-demographic profile of the MM cases in comparison to those not in need of additional support (non-MM) and 2. To illustrate an approach to refining the case review process which will inform practice and provides the service providers with better understanding of the early detection of parent-child relation difficulties. In pursuing this goal the cases screened over five years of practice were analyzed to explore the structure of the different factors by using statistical techniques of data reduction, i.e. factor analysis. The results showed that the MM group differed on several socio-demographic dimensions from the non-MM group and there was a four factor structure underlying the case review decision process. Implications of this research are discussed.