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Background Paper to Presentation "Challanges in Family Law Proceedings"
Get PDFPaperThe Developments in Irish family law, have mirrored the substantial change in the cultural values and social mores of our society, and much more than other areas of law, changing political and sociological values have shaped it. The problems which Irish family law judges face in their daily work are common to all developed societies, child custody, access, and relocation, allegations of domestic violence, the settlement of property and maintenance disputes. In public family law adjudication on care orders and supervising adoption legislation. In its international dimension, implementing international conventions, by adjudicating on child abduction across national boundaries, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign court orders. Historically Children’s law was neglected in the state, which together with the collective failure of our institutions to prioritise child protection, led to a difficult place for vulnerable childre
Challenges in Family Law Proceedings
Get PDFPresentationPaper by Mr Justice Michael White on the challanges in Irish family law in relation to children's needs and rights
Promoting Child-Centred Cooperative Parenting following Separation and Divorce using the Parents Plus Programmes
Get PDFPresentationPresentation by Parents Plus on post separation co-parenting programmes
Directors' Report and Financial Statements, Year ended 31 December 2012
No full textReportThe members of the Board hereby present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2012. These documents are prepared in accordance with the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2012 and, voluntarily in the absence of statutory reporting standards for charities in Ireland, in accordance with international best practice (Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP)(revised 2005)) as recommended by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. This Directors' Report contains the information required to be provided in the Trustees' Annual Report under the SORP guidelines
Submission on the Courts Bill 2013
Get PDFPaperBarnardos welcomes the introduction of the Courts Bill 2013 which will allow the press access to the courts in family and child care proceedings subject to certain restrictions including ensuring the anonymity of the parties to the case is maintained. Judges will have the power to exclude reporters or restrict their attendance if they think it is necessary to preserve the anonymity of a party to the proceedings or a child, or that it is considered to be in the best interests of the child or if the evidence is likely to be personally sensitive information or prejudicial to a criminal investigation
Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Barnardos' Wizards of Words Reading Programme
Get PDFEvaluation reportThe positive findings from this independent evaluation confirm our conviction that a Barnardos programme, the design of which was informed by evidence, and delivered in partnership with committed schools and volunteers, could make a real and lasting difference to children’s reading skills. The journey of the design, development, implementation and evaluation of WoW started in 2005 with a site visit by Barnardos staff to the Experience Corps programme in the USA. Inspired by this inter-generational reading intervention, and with the knowledge that a significant number of children attending Barnardos services had poor reading skills, we decided to develop an out-of-class, inter-generational reading programme for children aged between six and eight years of age.
The programme was first piloted in 2007 with a small number of schools in Dublin. Between 2007 and 2012 Barnardos partnered with 10 schools in Dublin and Limerick and more than 100 trained volunteers over the age of 55 to deliver the programme to more than 300 children. The evaluation, conducted by the Child and Family Research Centre at NUIG on behalf of Barnardos, was undertaken between 2008 and 2012. The process of programme design and development involved extensive research on a range of issues including how children’s reading skills develop, the factors which influence reading achievement and the policy context in which reading and literacy skills are developed. Enormous effort was required, from a range of people, to operationalise the programme, including the design and development of programme materials, recruitment of project staff and volunteers, the identification of schools and the assessment and recruitment of children for whom the programme would be suitable.
It is heartening to see that the attention paid to these issues has been affirmed by positive reports from the school principals and teachers, and the volunteers who participated in WoW. The tight focus of the programme, the structured nature of the sessions, the regular assessment and review of children’s progress, the training of and support for the volunteers, the commitment to achieving outcomes and the professionalism of the Barnardos staff were all identified as important features of the programme’s success from the school staff and volunteer perspectives. The programme pairs first and second class students, aged between six and eight years, nominated by their teacher for extra reading support, with an appropriately trained older volunteer. The purpose of the programme is to improve children’s reading, their enjoyment of reading and their self-belief in their reading competence. We are delighted therefore, that the evaluation shows that WoW does indeed improve children’s phonemic awareness and phonic knowledge; improve their word recognition skills; improve their enjoyment of reading; and improve the children’s perceived competence in their reading ability. Early on in the design and development of the programme, Barnardos made a commitment to the inter-generational element of the programme. We had seen for ourselves, with our visit to Experience Corps in the USA, the warmth, commitment and experience that the older volunteers brought to the programme; and we wanted to replicate this with WoW. The findings from this evaluation confirm our commitment to this feature of the programme. The evaluation shows that the one-to-one reading sessions with highly trained volunteers helped to build a very strong bond and relationship with the participating children and that the inter-generational dimension is key to the programme’s success
ChildLinks Issue 2: Implementation of Aistear
No full textBarnardos journal ChildLinksThis issue of ChildLinks is focused on the theme of Aistear. Quality early childhood care and education and quality curriculum are intrinsically linked. That is why, in the aftermath of the recent Prime Time exposé of poor quality early years provision, Barnardos has called for Síolta and Aistear to be implemented in all services, over a five year period, supported by paid continuing professional development / non-contact time In addition, Barnardos has called for reform of the inspection system by: Making sure all inspectors are trained and have expertise in what to look for in terms of quality curriculum for young children. Imposing sanctions on any crèche that breaches regulations to make sure crèches improve on inspection. Linking public funding to quality for all age groups, not just children partaking in the free pre-school year. Barnardos has called for proper investment in the National Early Years Strategy to include: Making sure all childcare services are affordable and high in quality by providing State subsidies, linked to quality. Introducing minimum qualification requirements for all those who work in childcare facilities and make sure that this happens by putting a training fund behind it. Regulation of all childminders – anyone paid to mind children should be trained, vetted and subject to regulation and inspection. Investment in the National Vetting Bureau so that vetting can be done quickly for anyone working for children. It is encouraging to read in ChildLinks of so many accounts of innovative initiatives to implement Aistear. What is needed now is a comprehensive plan backed by resources to implement Aistear and Síolta on a strategic basis. It is time to say a resounding no to low investment and low quality early childcare provision
Early Years eNews: Issue 2
No full textNewsletterIn this issue of Childcare eNews, we bring you details of two reports launched in April - the 2012 State of the Nation's Children report and a report on separated children in foster care. We share news of a joint initiative by the Ombudsman for Children and Courts Service to assist separating parents and their children as well as showing the results of a survey into childcare in Ireland. We also welcome the appointment by Frances Fitzgerald TD, Minister for Children & Youth Affairs of Ms. Norah Gibbons as the first Chairperson of the board of the new Child & Family Agency
Evaluation of the Barnardos/One Family Pilot Child Contact Centre (Final Report)
No full textEvaluation reportThe pilot Child Contact Centre service based in Dublin and run by Barnardos and One Family received funding in December 2010 from Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Family Support Agency and Ballymun Regeneration for a two year period. Following a set up and recruitment period the service began accepting referrals in October 2011. As this is a pilot Child Contact Centre service, monitoring and evaluation is a key part of the process and accordingly funding was allocated to establish a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system for the pilot in order to assess its performance and impact. This is the final evaluation of the pilot
Early Years eNews: Issue 1
No full textNewsletterIn this first issue of Childcare eNews for 2013, we bring you details of Barnardos new online course which we will be launching in the next couple of weeks, Introduction to Child Protection. There is also information on a new website from NALA, wwwhelpmykidlearn.ie, which helps parents to support their children’s literacy and numeracy development as well as news of the Government’s new Action Plan on Bullying and findings on a UCD study on Family Relationships and Family Well-being