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Speaking Up About Adult Harm: Options for Policy and Practice in the Irish Context

2018-03, Donnelly, Sarah, O'Brien, Marita

Current mechanisms for responding to the prevention and the protection of adults at risk of abuse in Ireland can be described as ad hoc and reactionary. For example, media reports exposing cases of abuse and neglect, such as Leas Cross and Áras Attracta, have resulted in the introduction of new safeguarding policies and inspection regulations. Whilst the current measures in place to identify and prevent harm and potential harm to adults at risk offer some protection, it is evident that deeply embedded resistance to cultural change within institutions and organisations demand that safeguarding procedures need to be placed on a statutory basis to ensure the safeguarding process is applied in a consistent and effective way.

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Ethics and Ethical Decision-Making in Adult Safeguarding Practice

2019-10-15, Donnelly, Sarah

Invited Keynote presentation to HSE National Safeguarding Office Annual Learning Forum.

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Position Paper on Adult Safeguarding, Legislation, Policy and Practice

2022-10-25, Mc Garry, Sinead, Donnelly, Sarah, Geiran, Vivian

The issue of adult safeguarding is of utmost importance for social workers and for the IASW. For those adults in need of safeguarding, the support and vindication of their integrity, autonomy, and human rights, as well as their protection and safety, may be dependent in large part on the role played by state agencies and civil society. Social workers have a particularly key role to play in adult safeguarding. The present position paper has been developed in the context of emerging legislation and new structures, policies, and services. In publishing the present position paper, which now supersedes a previous paper, the IASW seeks to influence the development and implementation of appropriate legislation, policy, and practice. This is in line with human rights values and best practices and based on our unique role, expertise, and experience as social workers, as well as being influenced by the voices and needs of the people we work with and their families. This is ultimately to seek to ensure that those adults who need professional safeguarding interventions, and their loved ones, receive the best possible services and protection.

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Adult Safeguarding and People Living with Dementia in Nursing Homes

2023-01-10, Donnelly, Sarah, Golden, Frank, Keating, Marguerite, Mackell, Sean, O'Shea, Judy, Paley, Gerry, Parfitt, Ray, Quaid, Kevin, Quinlan, Kathleen, Rochford-Brennan, Helen

While there has been an increased focus on ageing in place in the Irish context, for some people, including people living with dementia (PLWD), nursing home care may be required to adequately meet their care needs as their dementia progresses and care needs increase. Nursing homes are the homes of many PLWD who, despite their frailty and health problems (including dementia), should be supported to enjoy a good quality of life, maintain, and develop relationships, and contribute to society (ADI, 2013).

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Falling Through the Cracks: The case for change. Key developments and next steps for Adult Safeguarding in Ireland

2019-12-11, Donnelly, Sarah, O'Brien, Marita

Adults are at risk of and experiencing harm and abuse all over Ireland, and for a variety of reasons including psychological, physical and financial abuse. According to a report commissioned by the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), entitled ‘Financial Abuse in Ireland, 2019’, 20% of adults have experienced financial abuse and physical abuse of vulnerable adults has been witnessed/suspected by 1 in 3 adults. Last year there were 11,780 safeguarding concerns received by HSE Safeguarding and Protection Teams across Ireland according to the National Safeguarding Office Annual Report. This study sets out to explore how the absence of Adult Safeguarding legislation in the Irish context may be impacting on adults within the current safeguarding system from the perspective of social work practitioners, professionals or advocates who are working with them. The study seeks to shed light on how practitioners are navigating cases in the absence of primary legislation and to explore what benefits or challenges there might be should Adult Safeguarding legislation be fully enacted in the Irish context.

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Adult Safeguarding Legislation and Policy Rapid Realist Literature Review

2017-05, Donnelly, Sarah, O'Brien, Marita, Walsh, Judy, McInerney, Joanne, Campbell, Jim, Kodate, Naonori

The investigation of, and intervention into the alleged abuse of older people has become a dominant feature of social work in Ireland. The international definition of elder mistreatment adopted in most western countries including Ireland, is: ‘Elder abuse is a single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm to an older person’ (WHO, 2008; WHO/INPEA, 2002). Operationalising this abstract definition is to describe types or categories of abuse that older people can be subjected to - physical, sexual, psychological, financial and neglect. Although valuable, the limitations of these narrow and mutually exclusive categories are increasingly recognised (Anand et al., 2013; O’Brien et al., 2011; Naughton et al., 2012). There is a major lack of understanding of the voice and experiences of older people in relation to abuse (Anand et al., 2013; Charpentier and Souliéres, 2013; WHO, 2002b). Irish research has demonstrated that older people conceptualise elder abuse as the loss of voice and agency, diminishing status in society, violation of rights and wider societal influences that undermine a sense of individualism and ‘personhood’ (O’Brien et al., 2011; Naughton et al., 2013).