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Dr. Helen Buckley

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

 hbuckley@tcd.ie

 


Biography

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.

Research Tags

  Child centred research questions, study design, data analysis   Child protection policy and practice   Child welfare   Promotion of child centred research

Research Projects

 An examination of recommendations from inquiries into events in families and their interactions with State services, and their impact on policy and practice
 Audit of Irish Research on Child Protection
 Survey of newly qualified primary teachers to ascertain their knowledge of and familiarity with child protection procedures
 Putting Research Evidence to Work
 Child Protection Services in Ireland: An Evaluation by Service Users

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Representations

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
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
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 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
  

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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

  

Awards and Honours

Award Date
Elected to Fellowship of Trinity College 2006

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

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.