Disabled children experience increased risk of abuse and neglect. Concurrently, serious concerns and practical impediments persist regarding the capacity of statutory child protection and welfare services to respond adequately to their needs. Specifically, the focus in this article is on the assessment stage of the social work process within child…

The present paper provides an overview of child sexual exploitation in Northern Ireland and related issues. It focuses on Barnardo's response to the problem of sexual exploitation and sets it in both a historical and a contemporary context. The paper considers the importance of recognising exploitation as child abuse and addresses specific myths…

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a very personal series of reflections on the current debate on risk and accountability in child protection and child and youth care as the former strives to come out of a period of volunteerism and professionalize itself (McElwee, 1998; Share & McElwee, 2005). Irish culture has grown more individualist…

Taking account of the needs and views of children is problematic, particularly in Ireland where children have been "owned" by their parents and social policy has been directed at the family rather than the individual child. The 1980s and 1990s may be said to be the decades where abuse, in its many forms, reared its head and Irish society…

Children who witness domestic violence may have impaired educational attainment as well as facing other challenges such as struggles with self-esteem and forming relationships. This qualitative study set in Northern Ireland explored the perceptions of Education Welfare Officers, child protection social workers and teachers in post-primary schools…

Background: There is a lack of longitudinal large-scale studies of sexual abuse in intellectual disability services. Such studies offer opportunities to examine patterns in disclosure, investigation and outcomes, and to report on incidence and trends. Methods: All allegations of sexual abuse (n = 250) involving service users as victims or…