Social Work Intervention Pathways within Child Protection: Responding to the Needs of Disabled Children in Ireland

Abstract

Whilst even minimal social work intervention entails judicious planning and strategic oversight, existing literature alludes to persistent concerns, inadequacies and challenges in safeguarding work with disabled children. In this context, critical commentary on the literature selects two influences on social work intervention for more in-depth consideration. The sustaining proposition of the paper is that barriers to optimum Child Protection and Welfare (CPW) social work intervention with disabled children in Ireland, are encountered at both structural and epistemological levels. On a structural level, it is proposed that social work intervention pathways must negotiate problematic and indistinct lines of demarcation between disability services and statutory CPW services. On an epistemological level, the utility of evidence-based and rights-based approaches for overcoming shortfalls in perceptions, attitudes and culture alluded to in current literature, is arguably substantial. Notwithstanding other impediments to effective practice such as time and resource constraints, the refined focus of analysis on these two aspects, pursues further detail within existing and limited knowledge on the subject matter. In concluding, to operationalise insights from the former review towards improving future practice, a conceptual framework derived from the Hardiker Model (1991) is applied to discuss lessons learned, moving forward.