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Dr. Helen Buckley

Fellow Emeritus (Sch Office - Social Work & Social Policy)
      
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Dr. Helen Buckley

Fellow Emeritus (Sch Office - Social Work & Social Policy)

 hbuckley@tcd.ie

 


Up to her retirement in 2016, Dr. Helen Buckley was Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and Social Policy and Course Coordinator, Postgraduate Diploma in Child Protection and Welfare, Trinity College Dublin. She was also a Senior Research Fellow in the Children's Research Centre, Trinity College Dublin. She has practised as a social worker in the areas of disability, mental health, and community care. She teaches and researches on child protection practice and policy, assessment, service user perspectives, children living with domestic violence and the use of evidence in practice. She has published number of peer reviewed articles and books on child protection practice, as well as research reports and policy documents. She has participated in numerous working groups and investigations on child protection and welfare. She was a co-author of the Ferns Report (2005) which inquired into clerical sexual abuse. She is currently the chair of the National Review Panel that reviews serious incidents including the deaths of children known to the child protection services and is a board member of the Adoption Authority of Ireland.
  Child centred research questions, study design, data analysis   Child protection policy and practice   Child welfare   Promotion of child centred research
Project Title
 An examination of recommendations from inquiries into events in families and their interactions with State services, and their impact on policy and practice
From
01 November 2012
To
30th April 2013
Summary
This study was commissioned by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs with the overall aims of examining the recommendations of a number of specific inquiry reports in relation to child protection failings in Ireland, ascertaining the degree to which the recommendations were implemented in the context of concurrent reforms, and developing a template to guide recommendations in future reports.
Funding Agency
Department of Children and Youth Affairs
Programme
IRC Research initiatives
Project Type
Research
Person Months
12
Project Title
 Audit of Irish Research on Child Protection
From
October 2009
To
December 2009
Summary
The purpose of this project to undertake an audit of child protection research in the Republic of Ireland. The principal output from this work will be an accessible database that will be publicly available. The CAAB are undertaking this audit in consultation with the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, which is also liaising with the Health Research Board in their mapping exercise of research undertaken on child health.
Funding Agency
Children Acts Advisory Board
Person Months
9
Project Title
 Survey of newly qualified primary teachers to ascertain their knowledge of and familiarity with child protection procedures
From
January 2009
To
June 2009
Summary
this was a one off survey of 101 newly qualified primary teachers representing separate primary schools around the Dublin area. It measured their knowledge of and familiarity with their schools child protection policies and procedures. Results showed that a minority of teachers had been inducted, had read the procedures or knew the identity of the Designated Liaison Person for child protection in their school. The study also demonstrated a low rate of pre-qualifying training, and lower levels of confidence in ability to identify and report child abuse in those who had less than three hours training.
Project Type
Survey
Person Months
10
Project Title
 Putting Research Evidence to Work
From
April 2008
To
November 2009
Summary
This project sought to establish the extent of research utilisation in the Irish child welfare sector. It identified the barriers and facilitators that impact on research use and made recommendations for research commissioners, organisations providing services and research providers
Funding Agency
Children Acts Advisory Board
Person Months
20
Project Title
 Child Protection Services in Ireland: An Evaluation by Service Users
From
01/09/2006
To
31/08/2007
Summary
This project evaluated child protection services from the perspective of sixty seven service users including thirteen children and young people. Child protection services are defined as those services which provide an integrated response to reported child protection concerns, principally the Health Service Executive child care services and An Garda Síochána. Service users in this context are defined as children, young people, parents/carers and extended family members who have been involved with child protection services through their own initiative or referral by others on their behalf. It examined their perceptions of the type of response they received from the service, the impact of being investigated, of having a assessment carried out, being involved in identifying their different needs, of genuine participation and involvement in child protection conferencing, contributing to child protection planning, being given the opportunity to review the operation of the plan, and receiving a longer term service. It also examined the degree to which children and families considered that their identified needs have been addressed.
Funding Agency
Office of the Minister for Children
Person Months
24

Page 1 of 3
Details Date
Member of the HIQA working group developing national standards in child protection 2011-12
Member of the Advisory Committee on Children and Family Services appointed by the HSE 2011
Member of the Scientific Committee for the BASPCAN Congress 2012 to be held in Queen's University Belfast 2011
Chair of the National Review Panel on Serious Incidents including the Deaths of Children in Care 2010
Member of Child Protection Cross Border Sub Group on Research and Knoweldge Transfer 2009
Senior Research Fellow, Children's Research Centre, Trinity College Dublin 2002 onwards
Contract to provide consultancy to the Office of the Minister for Children on child protection and welfare policy 2006 onwards
Collaborator with the Scottish Centre for Child Care and Protection based at the University of Dundee January 2006 onwards
Chair of the working group of the Council for Children's Hospital's Care producing unified child protection guidelines for the three Dublin children's hospitals October 2005
Member of the Ferns Inquiry Panel, appointed by the Minister for Health to inquire into clerical sexual abuse in the diocese of Ferns 2003 - 2005
Member of an oversight group in the Department of Health in respect of the implementation of child protection guidance in the health sector July 2013
Service users as receivers of risk-dominated practice in, editor(s)M. Connolly , Beyond the Risk Paradigm in Child Protection., 2017, Palgrave, 2017, pp77 - 90, [Helen Buckley], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
The Sins of the (Irish) Fathers: Is Mandatory Reporting the Best Response? in, editor(s)B. Mathews and D.C. Bross , Mandatory Reporting Laws and the Identification of Severe Child Abuse and Neglect, New York, Springer, 2015, pp275 - 294, [Helen Buckley and Roni Buckley], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Kevin Lalor and Helen Buckley, Foreword: European perspectives on child abuse and neglect: Key messages from the 13th ISPCAN European Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies, 15, (2), 2015, p1 - 1, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  URL
Helen Buckley and Caroline O'Nolan, Recommendations from child abuse inquiries and their impact on policy and practice, Children's Research Digest, 2, (1), 2015, p4 - 10, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Dermot Hurley, Liliana Alvarez and Helen Buckley, From the Zone of Risk to the Zone of Resilience: Protecting the resilience of children and practitioners in Argentine, Canada and Ireland, International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies , 6, (1), 2015, p17 - 51, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Helen Buckley and Caroline O'Nolan, Child Death Reviews: Developing Clear Recommendations, Child Abuse Revieiw, 23, (2), 2014, p89 - 103, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Kathryn McGarry, Helen Buckley, Lessons on child protection: a survey of newly qualified primary level teachers in Ireland, Child Abuse Revieiw, 22, 2013, p80 - 92, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
H. Buckley, L. Tonmyr, K. Lewig and S. Jack, Factors influencing the uptake of research evidence in child welfare, Child Abuse Revieiw, 22, 2013, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Helen Buckley and Caroline O'Nolan, An examination of recommendations from inquiries into events in families and their interactions with State services and their impact on policy and practice, Dublin, Department of Children and Youth Affairs, December, 2013, 157, Notes: [Relevant to public policy on child welfare and of wider relevance to institutions that conduct public inquiries.], Report, PUBLISHED
Helen Buckley and Caroline O'Nolan, An examination of recommendations from inquiries into events in families and their interactions with State services and their impact on policy and practice, Dublin, Department of Children and Youth Affairs, December, 2013, 157, Notes: [Relevant to public policy on child welfare and of wider relevance to institutions that conduct public inquiries.], Report, PUBLISHED
  

Page 1 of 6
Helen Buckley & Kathryn McGarry, Child Protection in Primary Schools: summary of a research project undertaken in January 2009, Leadership: The Professional Voice of Principals, (56), 2010, p16 - 17, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Buckley, Helen, How well are we protecting children?, Child Links, (2), 2006, p4 - 6, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Horwath, J., Buckley, H. and Whelan, S. , Looking for Common Ground, Community Care, 2004, p36 - 37, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Buckley, H., 'Filtering out fathers: the gendered nature of social work in child protection, Irish Social Worker, 16, (3), 1998, p7 - 11, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Buckley, H., The Report of the Kilkenny Incest Investigation: Implications for Practice', Irish Social Worker, 11, (4), 1993, p6 - 7, Journal Article, PUBLISHED

  


Award Date
Elected to Fellowship of Trinity College 2006
Child protection policy and practice, particularly inter-disciplinary and inter-agency collaboration; child protection procedures and guidelines; assessment; impact of social factors on child welfare, evaluation of child protection practices, research utilisation.