The rights of the child in voluntary care in Ireland: a call for reform in law, policy and practice

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dc.contributor.authorBrennan, Rebekah
dc.contributor.authorO'Mahony, Conor
dc.contributor.authorBurns, Kenneth
dc.contributor.funderDepartment of Children and Youth Affairs, Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderCloyne Diocesan Youth Service, Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderUniversity College Corken
dc.date.accessioned2021-04-06T14:19:21Z
dc.date.available2021-04-06T14:19:21Z
dc.date.issued2021-03-15
dc.date.updated2021-04-06T11:30:28Z
dc.description.abstractVoluntary care agreements form a significant part of child protection systems in many jurisdictions. From a children’s rights perspective, they enjoy numerous advantages over court-ordered removals of children. However, when loosely regulated, voluntary care agreements can give rise to significant concerns in respect of compliance with international children’s rights law. This paper will present findings from the Voluntary Care in Ireland Study, one of the first in-depth empirical examinations internationally of voluntary care agreements. It will present qualitative data on the system in operation in Ireland that indicates that voluntary care agreements are less adversarial, time-consuming and costly than court proceedings. This frees up resources for early intervention and facilitates a more collaborative relationship between parents and social services, making it more likely that children will remain at home or eventually return home from care. At the same time, the findings suggest that the voluntary care system currently operated in Ireland suffer from numerous flaws, including absence of independent oversight; unlimited duration; potential instability (since parents can withdraw consent at any time); weak mechanisms for child participation; and inferior resource allocation compared to court-ordered care placements. The paper examines legislative provisions from a number of comparable jurisdictions and makes recommendations designed to ensure that the voluntary care system in Ireland complies more strongly with principles of international children’s rights law.en
dc.description.sponsorshipUniversity College Cork (College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences and School of Law)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid105989en
dc.identifier.citationBrennan, R., O'Mahony, C. and Burns, K. (2021) 'The rights of the child in voluntary care in Ireland: A call for reform in law, policy and practice', Children and Youth Services Review, 125, 105989, (11 pp). doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.105989en
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.105989en
dc.identifier.endpage11en
dc.identifier.journaltitleChildren and Youth Services Reviewen
dc.identifier.startpage1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/11179
dc.identifier.volume125en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherElsevieren
dc.relation.urihttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740921000682
dc.rights© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)en
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectChildren’s rightsen
dc.subjectVoluntary careen
dc.subjectChild protection and welfareen
dc.subjectChild participationen
dc.subjectIrelanden
dc.titleThe rights of the child in voluntary care in Ireland: a call for reform in law, policy and practiceen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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