Helen Buckley & Caroline O'Nolan School of Social Work and Social Policy Trinity College Dublin

1. Helen Buckley
Caroline O’Nolan
School of Social Work and Social Policy
Trinity College Dublin

2.  Research commissioned by the Department of
Children and Youth Affairs and conducted in
2012-13
 Objective: To study recommendations from 5
specific reports of inquiries into child
protection failures (1993-2010) and ascertain
degree of implementation
 Develop a template for future
recommendations

3.  Literature and Policy Review
 Detailed study of 5 reports of inquiries
 Establish list and timeline of all published
inquiries/reviews of CP services
 Semi-structured (elite) interviews (21)
 Consultation with stakeholders (21)

4.  (Published)Inquiries initiated in response to
perceived crisis
 29 published inquiries and reviews over 20
years
 Wide range of failures investigated:
 Intra-familial abuse
 Institutional abuse
 Diocesan clerical abuse
 551 recommendations in total

5.  ‘that’s life…that’s just life’
 Political reality
 Original report ‘game-changer’
 Way of accessing resources
 Very difficult for staff ‘caught up’ in the
process
 Not always conducive to learning
 Scope for improvement

6.  Many of the issues underpinning recommendations
had already been identified by policy makers and
had in many cases been planned and may have
stalled due to lack of funding
 Too numerous
 Some were predictable
 Some repetitive (infers lack of change)
 Some considered too aspirational
 Reflected agendas of panel members
 Potential for consultation

7.  ‘You can seal it in a brown envelope before you start
and know that inter-agency cooperation will come
up, probably something to do with adherence to
policy and procedure, and all these predictable
things, the quality of records and so on … You can
bet your bottom dollar that they will come out.’

8.  Improved vigilance and identification of
children at risk
 Better inter-agency co-operation
 Improved record keeping and exchange of
information
 Protocols for child protection conference
 Training
 Child-centeredness
 Children’s rights

9.  Most implemented at least to some degree
 Implementation of recommendations with a
local rather than national focus more difficult
to measure
 Implementation was often obscured by other
developments at the time
 Distinction between addressing and
implementing recommendations
 Pressure for implementation tended to come
from politicians in the opposition parties

10.  Considered far more influential than empirical
research because of public awareness- yet not real
drivers of change
 Implications?
 Recommendations fatigue- diminishing returns
 Critical mass reached
 Internal QA mechanisms providing greater
transparency & promoting higher standards- less need
for inquiries
 Effective reforms need local knowledge and
professional ‘buy-in’
 Process of developing recommendations needs to
provide for collaboration with key stakeholders
 Shift in focus to learning

11.  ‘A very good […] and very knowledgeable … but when […] had
[their] analysis done and began working on recommendations, the
absolute poverty of [their] understanding of management became
absolutely crystal clear because the consequences of what was
recommended were so inconsistent with any sound management
practice that it was completely undermining the report … You get
somebody at one level from the professional child care perspective
talking about interdisciplinary and inter-agency collaboration and
all of that and then coming with recommendations that are much
more akin to silos … The actual experience of having being
involved in statutory child protection and the actual experience of
managing within a statutory context is starkly absent from most
of the inquiries, it seems to me.’

12. Establish advisory group
↓
Invite written submissions
↓
Conduct review and draft recommendations
↓
Stakeholder seminar
↓
Convene workshops
↓
Briefings

13.  Case for change
 Learning oriented
 Evidence based
 Assignment of responsibility
 Review – written in a manner which facilitates
review

14.  Drawing on evidence, identify the issues that
need change
 Outline the consequences of no change
 Contextualise it in current policy to show the
level of congruence

15.  Deficits are not necessarily due to lack of
training but to inadequate information or
guidance
 Promote additional research and practice
guidance
 Evidence of good practice
 Messages for practice elaborated in a separate
section

16.  Evidence of deficits in policy or practice
 Need to demonstrate knowledge of the context
in which recommendations are to be
implemented
 Recommendations should only be made if
evidence exists to show that their
implementation will effectively address and
remediate the deficits identified by the report

17.  Specify:
 Discipline
 Directorate
 Organisation
 Leader to coordinate and oversee implementation

18.  The implementation of recommendations
should be amenable to review
 Should be possible to link them to regulatory
processes such as HIQA standards
 Any review should capture the more nuanced
aspects of child protection practice
 Multi method approach to auditing will be
required

19.  Recommendations should be fewer in number
and should be the result of a collaborative and
consultative process,
 A fresh approach should provide clarity and
ensure that recommendations are well
grounded, more feasible and cost effective
 The CLEAR template should get over the
difficulty of measuring outcomes in an area
that involves the exercise of professional
judgement.