Child Protection and Family Support Module: Learning and Application

This essay critically examines how the knowledge gained from a child protection module enhances the ability to work effectively with children, young people, parents, carers, and families. It begins by defining child protection within the Irish context, referencing key legislation and agencies. Th...Read More

Running head: CHILD PROTECTION AND FAMILY SUPPORT
‘A critical commentary on how my learning from the child protection module will enhance
my ability to work effectively in my support with children, young people, parents/carers
and/or families’
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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CHILD PROTECTION AND FAMILY SUPPORT
Introduction
According to the Child Care Act 1991, in Ireland, a child is defined as a person who
has not crossed the age of 18years, excluding those who are married (Fahey and Nixon 2014).
In Ireland, two key authorities who have pact with the child protection analysis are ‘TUSLA-
the child and family agency’ and ‘Garda Siochana’. The former one mainly assesses reports
for a child’s welfare and safety whereas the later one focuses on the investigations of
professed offences as well as whether a crime has been committed. Child protection is
important so that children who have been harmed or are at risk of being harmed are protected
(American Psychological Association 2013). The main role of the departments safeguarding
children or youthful people is mainly to explore the concerns regarding whether a child or
youthful person has been injured or is at a probability of remarkable danger and to give
continuous services to those children as well as young people. Child protection is mainly the
term that is used to recognize governmental policies and its services that are working to
safeguard the children who are being abandoned or abused and to interfere when in need.
Like many other countries, for Ireland the welfare of children are supreme. The department
those are responsible for child welfare and protection policy in Ireland includes Adoption,
Childcare legislation and Children in care. Thus, in this essay the importance of knowledge
regarding child protection act will be reflected that is guiding people to improvise their ability
to work with children, adults as well as their family members.
The aim of this essay is mainly to discuss how the learning from the child protection
module has improved the ability to carry the work with children, youthful people, parents or
caregivers and families along with a brief analytical commentary on relevant
literature/theory/research relating to child protection and family support.

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Discussion
I work with people having mild intellectual disability in the disability sector in
Ireland. However, the Health Service Executive (HSE) provides as well as funds various
services for the people who are intellectually, physically and sensory disabled. The services
mainly included basic health services along with assessment, rehabilitation, community care,
income maintenance, home care, day care and residential care respite. From my personal
experience, I have seen that people with disabilities are allowed to general health services on
a similar basis like everyone else in Ireland. My practice is mainly of working in the field
with the people who are intellectually disabled. In Ireland, the Department of Health and
Children is the one who mainly uses the term ‘intellectual disability’ and define their
conditions as including a greater than average difficulty in the sphere of learning. My
experience in such a home where I have been working with intellectually disables, is mainly
to provide services to children who are diagnosed with an intellectual disability and providing
their families with plans for each life stages. My organization mainly provides families of the
disabled children with the knowledge and supports so that they are well informed about their
needs and services. Therefore, through this child protection and family support module my
ability to communicate will get enhanced as I have to communicate with many disabled
children as well as their family members to understand their concern and help them identify
their needs as well as help them in their crisis situations.
Many researches has revealed that there is a strong link between disability as well as
child maltreatment which indicates that impaired children are notably more likely to
encounter maltreatment than those who are non-disabled (Jones et al. 2012). Among them,
who are with specific impairments are at greater danger. Moreover, there are confirmations
that interactions of age and gender as well as socio-cultural elements of disability effects
various types of maltreatment to those who are located amid the children who are non-

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disabled though this reason require further investigation. It seems the therapeutic services as
well as criminal justice systems frequently disappoint to take reports of the necessities and
increased vulnerability of the disabled children. However, in Britain very, less is known
about what actually happens with the children those who are disabled and who are maltreated
and how the protection services inscribe those need (Radford et al. 2013). Moreover, few
studies are there which tells us about what exactly happened to impaired children’s own
description of maltreatment or protection. This learning however, have enhanced my ability
of being assertive with the children as well as their families regarding the child protection as
well as family welfare.
In another research by Chadwick et al. (2013), it was stated that households in Ireland
stays the basic suppliers of assistance to those suffering from intellectual impairments. Thus,
the main objective behind their study is to map the life experiences of the intellectually
disabled while including the members of their families as co-researchers. The outcome of this
research has highlighted that concern for a family member who is having intellectual
disability is an active and an adjusted process. Thus, having more awareness around child
protection can definitely help me understand the children as well as making their parents
aware that how the State care about them and so they render the various child protection
services and supports so that their children can get proper assistance. However, this has been
influenced by the accessibility of proper assistance for the families who are going to advise
them, communication as well as associations along with facilities as well as professionals, the
accessibility of data as well as attitudes for impaired as well as governmental supports.
Through these further approaches, which can deliver improved support to the family carers in
Ireland, are mainly supplying with flexible as well as timely support at times of emergencies,
they must further offered services, supports along with entitlements and information to the
family members before they need to fight for them. Thus, understanding this, my ability to

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work effectively with the disabled children making partnership with their parents or family
member will be enhanced.
According to Eastgate et al. (2012), people who are diagnosed with intellectual
impairment undergo strain establishing intimate connections and are at risk of being sexually
exploited and abused. However, this study further strived for data from the people included in
the concerns of adults who are intellectually impaired considering how those people have
assisted them in the spheres of sexuality, relationships or maltreatment prevention. It further
conducted a semi-structure interview and focus groups among 28 members of the family and
the paid support employees who are concerned with the adults with disability. The interviews
as well as the focus groups were recorded, then transcribed, coded and then examined based
on the quality. Moreover, the author has further discussed that people with intellectual
disability were mainly defined as isolated, demoralize and more likely to be abused. The
latest form of risk to the intellectually disabled is the sex industry, internet as well as mobile
phones. However, this particular study has focused on both family members as well as the
support workers though the limitation of this study was that the sample size was small for
which meaningful variations between the two groups could not be identified. Therefore, I
learnt that children with intellectual disability need special care as these children are at a
greater risk of sexual exploitation as they are at greater risk of being isolated as well as
demoralized. Thus, in my employment sector where I am working with disabled children I
will be more careful as I have gained knowledge about their risk factors.
The changed views of society for the people with disability are highlighted in United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006 (Verdugo et al. 2012).
Therefore, the thing that is not mentioned in the agreement was that how to operate as well as
calculate the article created the agreement and ways to utilize that knowledge to develop the
rights of the people with impairment. Moreover, the author here has described the

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relationship among the eight fundamental standards of the life domains along with the 34
articles, which the Convention contains. The outcome of this research says that there is a
close connection among the fundamental standards of life province and 34 articles included
in the agreement. Moreover, the present ranking of these articles can be accessed through
evaluating the measures that are linked with eight fundamental features of life realm.
However, depending on the evaluation of these standards of life-associated products, three
policies are utilized to develop the rights of people who are intellectually disabled. The three
strategies, which are identified in this paper, are mainly to engage person-centered planning,
the publish supplier side and lastly, administer a method of assistance.
As stated in the research of Hayes and Spratt (2012), on a work that has already been
done some thirteen years ago and with similarity to that, the authors have investigated the
probability for social employees to move from a children safeguarding towards children
welfare practices. In the authentic investigation, the current task has seemed to analyze the
daily operations of social workers with children as well as people as disclosed by file
analyzers, vignette questionnaire along with the interviews with families as well as social
workers that are reported in this study. It was further revealed that around 20 items from the
planned questionnaire was accomplished by near about 55 social worker. Further, it was
observed that there were less agreement regarding summarizing decisions corresponds to
which investigations should be classified to the children protection or children welfare.
Moreover, when evaluation is done further it highlighted that despite the resolving decisions,
the peoples inclined to attain similar responses by the social employees. Therefore, the
outcome demonstrated that though there has been a decrease in the header numerals of
children safeguarding inspections ventured over Health as well as Social Care Trusts in
Northern Ireland. Thus, the daily ways of rehearsals with the families as well as the children

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where the parenting issues remained evident indicate priorities as well as practices of Child
protection risk management.
People with intellectual impairments are likely to get more prone to be isolated
socially and are at higher danger to encounter with diminished psychological health.
Researchers have further stated that adjoined pressure of becoming parents could enlarge the
danger that is featured in the model of ‘determinants of parenting’ by Sterling (Darbyshire
and Stenfert Kroese 2012). The author in this paper further explored psychological health and
social support between the parents of intellectually disabled confronting three main
objectives, which investigate the significance of these elements. The finding has argued
within the surrounding of Sterling’s model. Moreover, for this research a methodical search
of electronic database has been executed. There are eight studies, which get along with the
inclusion criteria and are evaluated, and the unity and results of the studies are discussed.
Moreover, parents with intellectual disability experiences unfortunate psychological health
than those of normal population and connection was observed between both psychological
health and social support. This article further said that two of the involved studies found
confirmation that by enhancing social support, psychological health can be developed. It was
also observed through this study that association between social assistance and parental
capability was assisted by the result of a positive connection between contentment along with
the social assistance as well as positive motherly responses.
There is a necessity of establishing impactful inter-agency operations among the
young health services and childcare services, which can protect children and has constantly
pinpointed by reports of research, policies, injuries and examination (Davidson et al. 2012).
However, this analysis mainly reports on the assessment of a technique in one health and
social care trust in the Northern Ireland, which has the goal to enable joint working and can
further enhance service provisions and protection for children as well as their families. The

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outcome of this article mainly focuses on the comparison between the mental health and
childcare staff along with which it essentially viewed whether the initiatives have any effect
on working together. The initiative that has been said is of Champion initiative, which
included identifying the champion among each of the teams of multidisciplinary community
mental health and among every families as well as childcare team, which might have the
authority for supplying information, joint working promotions along with distinguishing any
difficulty to better cooperation.
As per the discussion by Proctor and Azar (2013), about the evidences that parents
with an intellectual impairment represent a high proportion of cases of child protection
services (CPS) than what is anticipated based on the generality of intellectual disability in the
mainstream population. According to various investigations there are stereotypic assumptions
as well as expectations of the CPS workers about the parents who are intellectually disabled
who may have an influence on decisions and responses that are made to such parents.
However, after the research done by Proctor and Azar (2013), the result they come up with
was that CPS employees made notably high ratings of regret and shows readiness to assist
and risk for the parents who have intellectual disabilities than for those parents without an
intellectually disabled. They further found out lower ratings of anger as well as disgust for the
parents with intellectual disability than those parents without an intellectually disability.
Moreover, the parent’s intellectual status is not found to have a direct impact on the worker’s
criterion or elimination of decisions.
Conclusion
To conclude the essay it can be said that much knowledge, values as well as skills are
gained about child protection and family support mainly related to intellectually disable
where I have fieldwork experience in this sector. However, from this particular module of

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child protection and family support the facts that are collected through different researchers
that the chances of children’s maltreatment increases when they are disabled than their peers
who are not. Further, what is learned is that substantial development is also crucial at both
policy and practical level so that the rights of child protection can be preserved. Moreover,
from the perspective of family it has been found that caring for a family member who is
intellectually disabled in a family is dynamic as well as adaptive process. Thus, my ability
regarding communication, assertiveness as well as to work effectively with the disabled
children and their families have been greatly enhanced through this module of child
protection. In 2006, there was a changed view that was observed in the United Nations
Convention on the rights of persons with disability. The strategies that are learned from this
module are engage person-centered planning, the publish supplier profiles as well as
administer a method of support. However, it has also be found that there were a decline in the
header numbers of children protection inspections which are done by Health and Social Care
Trust in the Northern Ireland. Lastly, it has also been known that there are stereotypic
assumptions and expectations of the child protection services workers about the parents who
are intellectually disabled and further concludes that they have an impact on the decisions and
responses made to those parents.

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References
American Psychological Association, 2013. Guidelines for psychological evaluations in child
protection matters. The American Psychologist, 68(1), p.20.
Chadwick, D.D., Mannan, H., Garcia Iriarte, E., McConkey, R., O'brien, P., Finlay, F.,
Lawlor, A. and Harrington, G., 2013. Family voices: life for family carers of people with
intellectual disabilities in Ireland. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual
Disabilities, 26(2), pp.119-132.
Darbyshire, L.V. and Stenfert Kroese, B., 2012. Psychological well‐being and social support
for parents with intellectual disabilities: Risk factors and interventions. Journal of Policy and
Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 9(1), pp.40-52.
Davidson, G., Duffy, J., Barry, L., Curry, P., Darragh, E. and Lees, J., 2012. Championing
the interface between mental health and child protection: evaluation of a service initiative to
improve joint working in Northern Ireland. Child Abuse Review, 21(3), pp.157-172.
Eastgate, G., Scheermeyer, E., van Driel, M.L. and Lennox, N., 2012. Intellectual disability,
sexuality and sexual abuse prevention: A study of family members and support
workers. Australian family physician, 41(3), p.135.
Fahey, T. and Nixon, E., 2014. Family policy in Ireland. In Handbook of family policies
across the globe (pp. 125-136). Springer New York.
Hayes, D. and Spratt, T., 2012. Child welfare as child protection then and now: What social
workers did and continue to do. British Journal of Social Work, 44(3), pp.615-635.
Jones, L., Bellis, M.A., Wood, S., Hughes, K., McCoy, E., Eckley, L., Bates, G., Mikton, C.,
Shakespeare, T. and Officer, A., 2012. Prevalence and risk of violence against children with

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disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. The
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Proctor, S.N. and Azar, S.T., 2013. The effect of parental intellectual disability status on child
protection service worker decision making. Journal of Intellectual Disability
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Radford, L., Corral, S., Bradley, C. and Fisher, H.L., 2013. The prevalence and impact of
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survey of caregivers, children and young people and young adults. Child abuse &
neglect, 37(10), pp.801-813.
Stalker, K. and McArthur, K., 2012. Child abuse, child protection and disabled children: A
review of recent research. Child Abuse Review, 21(1), pp.24-40.
Verdugo, M.A., Navas, P., Gómez, L.E. and Schalock, R.L., 2012. The concept of quality of
life and its role in enhancing human rights in the field of intellectual disability. Journal of
Intellectual Disability Research, 56(11), pp.1036-1045.