About the TARA Project
The TARA Project
The TARA Project is a research partnership between Dublin South Central (DSC), TUSLA, Child and Family Agency and University College Cork.
The overarching aim of this partnership is to integrate trauma-informed practices (TIPs) in the DSC Area, Tusla, to support responding to the complex needs of, and improve outcomes for, the children and families who come into contact with the service.
The first phase has focused on staff training and development through a UCC-based programme to support staff in developing a shared understanding and approach, and to produce champions. Phase 2 focuses on how to embed TIPs into existing processes and practices in DSC in collaboration with the champions. Phase 3 assesses the impact on practice and clients.
TARA Project Stakeholder Group
A TARA Project Stakeholder Group was established to support the project. This group includes individuals with lived experience in child welfare and protection (e.g., parents, foster carers, care-experienced persons) and multidisciplinary professionals (e.g., social work, social care, youth and community work, psychology, teaching, nursing, psychotherapy). These professionals represented both intra-agency (TUSLA) and inter-agency entities (e.g., Barnardos, schools, advocacy groups, health providers) as well as academics. Stakeholder Group members provide expert reviews of the research process during meetings and through ongoing feedback. The Stakeholder Group is an integral part of the Project, with their input actively listened to and incorporated.
TARA Project Phase 1
In Phase 1, the project evaluated the effects of Trauma-informed care on practitioner outcomes in the DSC Area (2022-2023).
Phase 1 Peer-reviewed publications
- , , , and . 2026. “ Child Welfare Professional Education in Trauma-Informed Care: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation Study.” Child Abuse Review 35, no. 1: e70101. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.70101.
- Lotty, M., O’Shea, T., Frederico, M., & Kearns, N. (2024). Exploring the effects of a graduate level trauma-informed care education program for child welfare professionals. Children and Youth Services Review, 107821.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107821
- Lotty, M., Kearns, N., & Frederico, M. (2024). Integrating Trauma-informed Practices in Child Welfare: A Process Study of Trauma-informed Care Graduate Education. Journal of Child Public Welfare, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2024.2372725
Key Findings from Phase 1 Report:
Programme Success: The UCC graduate-level program effectively supports child welfare professionals in adopting trauma-informed practices.
Impact Areas:
- Programme Acceptability: Positive feedback on design, content, and experience.
- Dynamic Learning Acquisition: Enhanced trauma-informed knowledge, self-reflection, practice confidence, and integration of new and existing knowledge.
- Practice Changes: Improvements in child and family practices, practitioner resilience, and collaborative practices.
- Sustainability: Emphasis on a shared agency approach and ongoing support to maintain progress and address inconsistencies.
The Certificate in Continuing Development in Trauma-informed Care is open to the wider public and is designed to meet the educational and professional needs for front-line practitioners in the integration of trauma-informed practices into their role as a response to working with children, young people, adults and/or their families who have experienced trauma. The programme focuses on both developing practitioner’s understanding of the lived and living experience of trauma and effectively intervening with those that have experienced trauma across the life span.
TARA Project Phase 2
Phase 2 of the project which adopts a participatory research approach, focusing on creating initiatives informed by the TARA model with frontline professionals that blend trauma-informed practices with existing service delivery processes. Interested practitioners expressed an interest via an online survey in joining a working group (clusters).
Those who completed the survey were assigned to their first preference, which comprised groups focusing on Practitioner Resilience, Collaborative Practice, Working with Children and Families, and The Child's Journey across Teams. In total 31 eligible participants put their names forward for this. From January 2025, TUSLA professionals engaged in collaborative project development guided through the clusters to produce practice initiatives by engaging with four workshops:
- Define and understand
- Explore and prepare
- Develop and present
- Improve following feedback.
At the first workshop cluster members decided on their name and what they would focus on for the project. The Practitioner Resilience group chose to keep the original name and prioritise supervision. This focus is intended to positively impact practitioner retention and resilience, an area of interest and previous work for those involved.
The Child's Journey across Teams was renamed The Ripple Effect. Their main aim was to create a set of resources in the form of animations that highlight, recognise and address the needs of children and workers who experience the difficult transitions during moves in care.
The Collaborative Practice group were renamed the Communication Cogs, and its focus was on communication, particularly TUSLA’s role in working with external groups and agencies and recognising barriers in understanding TUSLA’s work and approach from an external perspective. They created a tool that help TUSLA staff reflect on a number of domains in relation to communication with others.
The Working with Children and Families group was renamed to the Time Bandits, and this was the only group that ended up having more than one initiative, with a total of four initiatives coming from this cluster. The initiatives focused on developing tools to assist them and incorporating trauma-informed practices into their work. This included a sensory pack, a journal, and a support in brining foster siblings together.
The research design was informed by the Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC). BSC facilitation is responsive to participants' and teams' interests, contexts, and realities, allowing participants to lead in identifying and creating beneficial practices. The BSC focuses on changing organisational cultures and beliefs by fundamentally altering practices. It contrasts real-world implementation, replication, and sustainability with traditional pilot projects. The intent is to shift practice at all levels of the agency, involving members from various levels, especially those most impacted by the work.
TARA Project Phase 3
Phase 3 of the TARA Project will carry out a process evaluation to explore how the cluster outputs from Phase 2 have been experienced.
Data will be gathered through focus groups with:
- parents
- foster carers,
- staff of Tusla
- staff of agency partners