Week 9

CARMEL DEVANEY - HELP SEEKING AND HELP PROVIDING IN IRELAND
Introduction
The rhetoric of prevention and early intervention has been [almost] centre stage in Ireland
for well over a decade. However, it is only in the very recent past that this has translated
into a practical orientation within service provision.
Tusla now has a dedicated programme of Prevention, Partnership and Family Support
(PPFS), which operates within its child protection and welfare function.
Help provision in the current Irish context

In 2011, the first Minister for Children and Youth Affairs was appointed and a new
Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DYCA) established with the aim of providing an
overarching cross-departmental focus to policy and service development for children,
young people and families. DYCA includes Tusla, the Child and Family Agency along with
other state agencies concerned with children, young people and their families.
The overall intention of Tusla, as an independent Child and Family Agency, is to move
child welfare in Ireland from the predominance of an investigatory and reactionary system
to a more proactive one that places the prevention of harm and promotion of parenting and
family support as part of the overall package of child protection and welfare services for
families and children.
Help provision in a previous context

From the foundation of the Irish State (in 1922) onwards the provision of support services
was primarily provided by the Churches, particularly the Catholic Church, with an
overriding view that families and communities should generally service themselves.
The services offering residential care to children in Reformatory and Industrial Schools
were administered by religious organisations. Children who were involved in crime, as well
as children who were orphaned, neglected or ‘illegitimate’ were housed and cared for in
industrial schools, with no distinction between the two groups.
However, in the 1930s, State attention began to focus on the differing needs of these
children. The Tuairim Report published in 1966 advocated for all child care services to be
administered through the [then] Department of Health. It was recommended that children
could be better cared for without splitting up the family. In response to this a committee
was established to review the Reformatory and Industrial Schools systems in operation.
This Kennedy Report (1970), highlighted the unrealistic nature of dealing with children in
care in isolation, with a strong emphasis on preventing children from being placed in care.
As a result of the recommendations in the Kennedy Report committee a Task Force on
Child Care Services was established in 1974 to look at all aspects of children’s services.
The 1991 Child Care Act represented a landmark in the history of children’s services in
Ireland. The Act is founded on the premise that it is generally in the best interest of
children to grow up at home. The Act places a statutory duty on Health Boards [now Tusla]
to identify and promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and
protection and to provide a range of child care and family support services. In performing
these duties the [then] Health Boards must regard the welfare of the child as the first, have
regard to the rights and duties of parents, give due consideration to the child’s wishes and
have regard to the principle that it is generally better for the child to be brought up in their
own families. Overall aim is for the State to support the role of parents.
Towards a current understanding of seeking and providing help
Central to Tusla are five distinct but complementary Work Packages:
- Parenting Support and Parental Participation;
- Public Awareness (i.e., increasing awareness of where to access help among the
general public);
- Children’s Participation
- Commissioning, which focuses on the funding of services;
- the development of the Meitheal and Child and Family Support Networks (CFSNs)
model.
Tusla defines Meitheal as ‘a national practice model to ensure that the needs and
strengths of children and their families are effectively identified, understood, and
responded to in a timely way so that children and families get the help and support needed
to improve children’s outcomes and to realise their rights’. The Meitheal model is a
process-based system, which revolves around the child or young person and their family
and involves a range of community, voluntary and statutory organizations providing
coordinated and integrated supports. Such principles include the process being led by a
practitioner the family knows and trusts, a focus on the strengths of the family (both
individual members and as a unit) and working at a pace which is aligned with the needs
of the family members.
The relationship between the practitioner and the family is the key criteria for leading the
family through the Meitheal process. Research has indicated that parents appreciate a
relationship with workers which is based on honesty and kindness, and where they are
prepared to go the ‘extra mile’ for them and that there is a need to return to relationship-
based practice. It is also noted that addressing negative or unwanted behaviours is more
effective if there is an existing relationship between the practitioner and the family
members.

Week 9

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Week 9

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CARMEL DEVANEY - HELP SEEKING AND HELP PROVIDING IN IRELAND

Help provision in the current Irish context

Help provision in a previous context

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