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15 PRACTICE LINKS // DECEMBER 2021

Lotty, M., Bantry-White, E., & Dunn-Galvin, A. (2021). A

Qualitative Study in Ireland: Foster Carers and Practitioners

Perspectives on Developing a Trauma-Informed Care

Psychoeducation Programme. Child Care in Practice, 1-17.

This article presents the findings of a qualitative study of foster

carers' and multidisciplinary practitioners' perceptions of foster

carers' needs and existing practices in foster care in Ireland. This

study explored participants' perceptions of the development of

a trauma-informed care (TIC) psychoeducational intervention

for foster carers. From a purposive sample of foster carers and

multidisciplinary practitioners, four focus groups were carried

out. Thematic analysis revealed three themes: The Need for

Trauma-informed Care, Development of Trauma-informed Care

and Implementation of Trauma-informed Care. The findings

have informed the development of a culturally sensitive TIC

intervention for foster carers that reflect the needs and practices

of the Irish foster care context. Click here for open access

version.

A Qualitative Study in Ireland: Foster Carers and Practitioners

Perspectives on Developing a Trauma-Informed Care

Psychoeducation Programme

Maria Lotty , Eleanor Bantry-White and Audrey Dunn-Galvin

School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

ABSTRACT

This article presents the findings of a qualitative study of foster

carers' and multidisciplinary practitioners' perceptions of foster

carers' needs and existing practices in foster care in Ireland. This

study explored participants' perceptions of the development of a

trauma-informed care (TIC) psychoeducational intervention for

foster carers. From a purposive sample of foster carers and

multidisciplinary practitioners, four focus groups were carried out.

Thematic analysis revealed three themes: The Need for Traumainformed

Care, Development of Trauma-informed Care and

Implementation of Trauma-informed Care. The findings have

informed the development of a culturally sensitive TIC

intervention for foster carers that reflect the needs and practices

of the Irish foster care context.

KEYWORDS

Psychoeducation; traumainformed

care; foster care;

programme development

Introduction

In Ireland, there are approximately 5916 children in care, about 50 children per 10,000

population aged 0-17 years (Tusla, 2019). Tusla, the national child welfare agency in

Ireland report the primary reasons for children's first-time admission to care and the

primary reason for being in care indicated were neglect (38%, 36%), followed by child

welfare concerns (36%, 40%), emotional (12%, 12%), physical abuse (10%, 7%), and

sexual abuse (4%, 3%) were also indicated (Tusla, 2019). These reasons reflect the

research that indicates that children in foster care most often have experienced maltreatment

prior to entering care (Kisiel et al., 2009). Maltreatment includes various forms of

trauma that can include in-utero exposure to toxic stress/substances (Astley et al., 2002),

neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and/or exposure to domestic violence

(English et al., 2015). These experiences are often prolonged, repetitive and involve

multiple experiences of trauma that occur within the context of the child-caregiver

relationship in the home (Villodas et al., 2015). Such experiences may leave children

being at risk of dysregulation of systems that include; affect, attachment, behaviour

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any

maria.lotty@ucc.iehe original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.

CONTACT Maria Lotty maria.lotty@ucc.ie School of Applied Social Studies, William Thompson House, University

College Cork, O' Donovan's Road, Cork, Ireland

CHILD CARE IN PRACTICE

https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2021.1925632

Disclosure of childhood sexual abuse can be an

extremely difficult and, in some instances, an

insurmountable task. People tend to delay disclosure,

many until adulthood (London et al, 2005; Alaggia,

2004, 2005). For others still, and for a variety of reasons,

their experiences are never disclosed. During the Sexual

Abuse and Violence in Ireland study (SAVI) conducted in

2002, forty seven percent of those who had experienced

sexual abuse in childhood had not told anyone prior to

being asked in the research interview (McGee, Garavan,

de Barra, Byrne, and Conroy, 2002). International

research also suggests that rates of disclosure of

childhood sexual abuse to state authorities may be

lower still (Alaggia, Collin-Vézina and Lateef, 2019). This

hints at the potentially large, hidden population

impacted by childhood sexual abuse but also poses

questions about the difficulties and challenges people

may face in coming forward.

Click here to download a copy of the full report.