Child Care Proceedings in the District Court
In 2008, 2,013 children were received into the care of the Health Service Executive, mostly for reasons of neglect (Health Service Executive, 2009). About half of these children would be received into care by parental consent and the other half came into care as a result of applications are made by the HSE in the District Court under the Child Care Act 1991. Despite the fact that the Child Care Act 1991 is a well-established piece of legislation, little is known about the child care proceedings process in the District Court, and no empirical studies have examined this process in an Irish context.
This study seek to address a significant gap in our understanding of the care proceedings process specifically in the District Court in the Republic of Ireland. The study will examine the process from the perspectives of key actors (professionals, families and young people). The study will also examine care proceedings models in other countries to place the Irish model in context and to ask if the adversarial model employed in the Republic of Ireland is the best decision-making model to protect children in need of care.
This research study is an inter-disciplinary project based in the Children and Young Persons research cluster in ISS21.
Project start date: Spring 2011
Research team:
Dr Kenneth Burns, School of Applied Social Studies (Principal Investigator)
Dr Aisling Parkes, Faculty of Law
Dr Conor O’Mahony, Faculty of Law
Ms Caroline Shore, School of Applied Social Studies
Further information:
Contact Kenneth by email at k.burns@ucc.ie
