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‘Progressing a Family Support Promotion of Welfare Agenda in the 21 st Century’

‘Progressing a Family Support Promotion of Welfare Agenda in the 21 st Century’. Colm O’Doherty Institute of Technology, Tralee. The Legal Context. 1991 Child Care Act Continium of Service:

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‘Progressing a Family Support Promotion of Welfare Agenda in the 21 st Century’

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  1. ‘Progressing a Family Support Promotion of Welfare Agenda in the 21st Century’ Colm O’Doherty Institute of Technology, Tralee

  2. The Legal Context • 1991 Child Care Act • Continium of Service: • Health boards have a duty to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection • Provide childcare and family support services • Questions and issues arising from the Irish states’ family support narrative

  3. Personal – Professional Experiences • 1975 – Coventry Social Services • 1984 – 1993 – Southern Health Board

  4. Policy Context • A Family policy continium • Promotion of welfare in a post-traditional order: • Changing work practices • Changes in intimate life • Erosion of traditional authority base of parents

  5. Policy Context (2) • Irish social policy orientation • Welfarism or Social Justice • Ambiguous policy structures

  6. Practice Context • Narrow operational focus of Irish statutory social work • Failure to implement Task Force (1980) recommendations • Uneasy relationship with community work • Sharp increase in social workers workloads’

  7. Organisational Context • Medical model • Deployment of social workers • Social workers ‘hedge their bets’

  8. Research • A dearth of macro-level research available on the Irish statutory family support system • Objectives of research study: • Map out national family support policy and practice • Set the agenda • Situate the Irish system within the international field of family support • Devise a new model

  9. Research (2) - Methodology • National and International documentary analysis • Social work survey • Interviews with childcare managers • Survey/focus group - voluntary agencies

  10. Findings • Low response rate to social work survey: • 49 completed questionnaires returned out of a total of 250 sent to social workers • Social workers dissatisfaction with the failure of their boards to fully embrace family support work

  11. Findings (2) • 16 guided interviews with childcare managers • Date analyzed under 4 headings: • Conceptual framework • Policy framework • Training & practice framework • Resources and priorities

  12. Findings (3) • Survey of voluntary agencies • Focus group • Partners or Agents of the board?

  13. Recommendations • Adoption of a community social work framework for practice • Linking family support development with the generation of Social Capital • Appointment of policy making family support managers

  14. New Model Process: Contacts Devising/supporting Networks Practice Methods: Early Intervention Ecological Approach Practice Principles: Community Approach Partnership Outcomes: Life Politics Democratic Family Active Citizenship Social Capital

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