Pat Dolan

Prospective Possibilities for Building Resilience in Children, their Families and Communities

This paper explores a future agenda for building resilience in children, families and communities with particular emphasis on a greater utilisation of informal social networks. Following a brief revisit of its definitions and principles, a tentative framework for consolidating resilience between children, their families and communities is provided. Messages for future policy and practice are also considered in the light of learning provided by other contributors to this special issue of Child Care in Practice.

What Families Want in Family Support: An Irish Case Study

In recent years, Family Support has been given increased attention in Ireland, including the development of more community-based early intervention programmes and the publication of an Irish Government policy regarding children and their universal need for recognition and support. In the light of these developments and from recent research on Family Support involving two health authorities, specific issues relating to policy and practice are considered. Two case studies are presented. One study in the Western Health Board area involved consultation with service users regarding their perception of Family Support and how best professionals should provide help to families. The second study by the Eastern Regional Health Authority focused on lay family support workers and key aspects of their helping role in relation to cases of domestic violence. Common themes that emerge from both pieces of research are discussed, including the importance of valorisation of the worker-client relationship, the need for targeted support within universal frameworks, the importance of timing of interventions and the potential of non-directive interventions with families experiencing adversity.

Understanding youth civic engagement: debates, discourses and lessons from practice

While civic engagement provides a rich rationale for intervention, the array of discourses urging a focus on youth engagement or action means that the concept can be confusing, cluttered, and lacking consistent operationalization. From the perspective of policy-makers and program managers, it can be challenging to disentangle the competing messages and assumptions about young people that underpin the rhetoric in relation to youth engagement. Using a wide range of international research, the purpose of this paper is to provide clarity regarding the key multiple concepts and issues pertinent to the concept of youth civic engagement. In particular, the paper answers the following questions: what are the definitions, typologies, and discourses in which the concept of youth civic engagement operates, and what are the putative beneficial outcomes of youth engagement identified? We also discuss some of the broader considerations on the positioning of young people in society, which impact the trajectory of civic engagement efforts. As a means for reflecting on their own practices, programs, and approaches, our intent is to provide those involved in both the application and research of youth engagement with a more coherent roadmap of the diversity residing in this field.

The Voice of the Child in Social Work Assessments: Age-Appropriate Communication with Children

This article describes a child-centred method for engaging with children involved in the child protection and welfare system. One of the primary arguments underpinning this research is that social workers need to be skilled communicators to engage with children about deeply personal and painful issues. There is a wide range of research that maintains play is the language of children and the most effective way to learn about children is through their play. Considering this, the overarching aim of this study was to investigate the role of play skills in supporting communication between children and social workers during child protection and welfare assessments. The data collection was designed to establish the thoughts and/or experiences of participants in relation to a Play Skills Training (PST) programme designed by the authors. The key findings of the study reveal that the majority of social work participants rate the use of play skills in social work assessments as a key factor to effective engagement with children. Of particular importance, these messages address how social work services can ensure in a child-centred manner that the voice of children is heard and represented in all assessments of their well-being and future care options.

Family support in Ireland: developing strategic implementation

In both parts of Ireland over the last decade there has been a growing commitment to family support. This has been expressed in both policy and practice. This paper summarises the learning from that development and suggests there is now sufficient understanding and experience to allow for a strategically managed approach based on a planning cycle of legislation based policy choice, planning, service delivery, monitoring and evaluation.

Travelling Through Social Support and Youth Civic Action on a Journey Towards Resilience

This chapter explores the connection between resilience and social support and how each is affected by individual, family and wider ecological factors that can be addressed at the level of social policy. The focus is on concepts of social support networks and how resilience can be built at multiple levels through youth civic action. Several short vignettes are presented that show how good policy can affect young people and the programming required to make this happen.

Youth Mentoring as a Tool for Community and Civic Engagement: Reflections on Findings of an Irish Research Study

Youth mentoring programs such as Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) are traditionally considered to be a vehicle for youth development rather than community development. In fact, the notion that the one-to-one engagement that characterizes the mentoring process acting as a form of community development appears somewhat counterintuitive. However, the authors use evidence from research among adult mentors with an Irish Big Brothers Big Sisters Program to argue that such programs are a valuable resource in terms of both community and youth development. Firstly, by encouraging awareness and empathy with young people and their families, such programs are extending the range and possibilities for civic engagement. Secondly, there is a demand among mentors for horizontal support and for the creation of a community of mentors. Support for such initiatives by program staff could help to overcome criticisms of formal mentoring programs for their individualized nature and go some way toward the creation of “mentor rich communities.” Such actions could help to complement the bridging social capital aspect of mentoring with the creation of bonding social capital among pro-social and civic-minded adults. Finally, it is argued that youth mentoring programs would benefit from the introduction of community development principles. For example, use of locally participatory structures could help to develop programs, make them responsive to the needs of youth, and act as a support for the recruitment of volunteers.

Transcending borders: Social support and resilience, the case of separated children

The specific support needs of separated children are widely documented, with the additional risks and care concerns making this a particularly complex and vulnerable group. More recently, researchers have also turned their attention to the strength and resilience evident within this group. This paper presents a summary of the findings from a small-scale qualitative study undertaken to better understand the perceived social support networks of such young people in the Irish context. The issues of their particular needs and vulnerability along with information about their social support and resilience as key findings from the study are discussed, and tentative recommendations for practice set out. This discussion is informed and contextualized by reference to social support and resilience theory, which is used as a lens to explore issues for this group.

Evaluation Study Design--A Pluralist Approach to Evidence.

ABSTRACT There is significant controversy over what counts as evidence in the evaluation of social interventions. It is increasingly common to use methodological criteria to rank evidence types in a hierarchy, with Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) at or near the highest level. Because of numerous challenges to a hierarchical approach, this article offers a Matrix (or typology) of evaluation evidence, which is justified by the following two lines of argument. First, a pluralist approach to evidence is defended. Starting from the principle of methodological aptness, it is argued that different types of research question are best answered by different types of study. This article will address some of the key issues in the debate on RCTs (the ethical principles of duty of care and social utility, the role of random allocation, and threats to internal validity) in respect of which two opposing paradigms provide irreconcilable arguments, namely the position that RCTs are the ‘gold standard’ and the opposing position that RCTs are often if not always inappropriate in social settings. The second line of argument is that evaluations often require both experimental and non-experimental research in tandem. In a pluralist approach, non-causal evidence is seen as a vital component in order to evaluate interventions in mixed methods studies (as part of evidence-based practice [EBP]) and also is important for good practice itself (as part of practice-based evidence [PBE]). The article concludes by providing a detailed description of what an Evaluation Evidence Matrix can and cannot do.

What added value does peer support bring? Insights from principals and teachers on the utility and challenges of a school-based mentoring programme

Over the past decade, there has been greater attention placed on the potential value of peer support models, particularly in school contexts. This paper uses the case study of an Irish school-based peer mentoring programme to identify the added value that peer led models of social support for children and young people offer in a school setting. The Irish national youth organisation, Foróige, runs the Big Brothers Big Sisters school-based mentoring programme in over 60 Irish secondary schools, with the aim of improving young people’s transition to secondary school. Qualitative research was undertaken with 36 principals and teachers in secondary schools operating the programme. Five specific ways in which the peer mentoring model adds value to existing support in schools are identified and discussed, while challenges associated with the model are also highlighted.