Child protection reports within a changing legislative and policy context, what are the outcomes for children and families?

Objectives The child protection system in Ireland has been subject to recent legislative and policy reform which aspires to early intervention within the context of a streamlined service delivery model. Added to this, the rate... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives
The child protection system in Ireland has been subject to recent legislative and policy reform which aspires to early intervention within the context of a streamlined service delivery model. Added to this, the rate of reporting of suspected child abuse has risen by over 100% in the past ten years. While a number of Irish studies have been conducted on the ‘work world’ of child protection and welfare services, reporting trends have not been interrogated in any depth. Yet, in the context of increasing pressure, it is vital that new policies are informed by accurate information about the type, nature and source of reports received and the response made by the system to these reports. The provision of such data is the aim of this doctoral study.

Methods
This paper will focus on Phase One of the study which quantitatively examines all reports (approximately 750) received by one administrative area during a three month period in 2015. The data, which consists of anonymised standard intake records, has been analysed using SPSS.

Results
Early results indicate that the majority of reports received are categorised as ‘welfare issues’, that a sizeable proportion of the families referred are already known to the Child Protection Services and that while a majority of families are placed on a waiting list for an initial assessment, a significant number are closed with no further action recommended.

Conclusions
While the study is at a relatively early stage and will be considerably enriched by data from Phase Two (a qualitative study of the outcomes of reports made in Phase One), it is already evident that the type of early interventionist approach envisaged in the new reforms is challenging to implement, and that high thresholds are being applied.