‘Crossing the Line’: child protection and welfare managers' and social workers' experiences of social media, online and digital abuse and harassment in Ireland

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dc.contributor.authorBradley, Amy
dc.contributor.authorBurns, Kenneth
dc.contributor.authorSúilleabháin, Fiachra Ó
dc.contributor.authorHalvey, Olwen
dc.contributor.funderTusla – Child and Family Agency
dc.date.accessioned2026-05-15T12:50:02Z
dc.date.available2026-05-15T12:50:02Z
dc.date.issued2026-04-29
dc.description.abstractUsers of child protection social work and/or their families are fully entitled to express their dissatisfaction with the professional or service through both formal and informal channels. Fair criticism and dissatisfaction can sometimes, however, escalate and cross the line into violence, harassment and abuse (VHA). Social media online and digital platforms have made it possible for professionals to be subjected to VHA around the clock, in front of a wider audience, all the while making it very difficult to escape or disconnect from. But what constitutes ‘crossing the line’?. The findings presented in this paper are from the qualitative phase (Phase 2) of a mixed-methods exploratory study of social media and online abuse and harassment of social workers and probation officers in the Republic of Ireland. Nineteen semistructured interviews were conducted with experienced child protection and welfare managers and social workers. The study found that most participants believed child protection and welfare workers were at increased risk of VHA and expected some level of abuse or harassment due to the serious nature of their work. Participants demonstrated an empathic understanding towards the motivations behind the VHA behaviour by the person instigating it. The paper presents a new ‘crossing the line escalation scale’ based on the experiences of social workers and managers in child protection to assist with the assessment of social media, digital and online abuse. The contribution of this study is to provide first-hand accounts and analysis from child protection workers and managers on where this line might be.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThis study phase was part-funded by the Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. The authors would like to thank Katie Buckley and Maria Flavin for their work on the transcripts. We would also like to thank Ger Brophy, Chief Social Worker in the Child and Family Agency for his support for this study.
dc.description.versionPublished Version
dc.format.extent12
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid70127
dc.identifier.authororcidBradley, Amy
dc.identifier.authororcidBurns, Kenneth§0000-0003-4751-7667
dc.identifier.authororcidSúilleabháin, Fiachra Ó§0000-0001-8908-1633
dc.identifier.authororcidHalvey, Olwen
dc.identifier.citationBradley, A, Burns, K, Súilleabháin, FÓ & Halvey, O 2026, '‘Crossing the Line’: child protection and welfare managers' and social workers' experiences of social media, online and digital abuse and harassment in Ireland', Child Abuse Review, vol. 35, no. 3, 70127. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.70127
dc.identifier.doi10.1002/car.70127
dc.identifier.issn0952-9136
dc.identifier.issued3
dc.identifier.journaltitleChild Abuse Review
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0003-4751-7667/work/214830396
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0001-8908-1633/work/214830598
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/18770
dc.identifier.volume35
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherJohn Wiley and Sons Ltd
dc.relation.urihttps://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105037256728
dc.rights© 2026 The Author(s). Child Abuse Review published by Association of Child Protection Professionals and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
dc.rights.accessrightsopen access
dc.rights.licensenameAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.statusPeer reviewed
dc.subjectAbuse and harassment of workers
dc.subjectChild protection and welfare
dc.subjectCyberbullying
dc.subjectIreland
dc.subjectSocial media
dc.subjectSocial work
dc.subject[SocialStudies]
dc.title‘Crossing the Line’: child protection and welfare managers' and social workers' experiences of social media, online and digital abuse and harassment in Irelanden
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)
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