Child protection or professional self-preservation by the baby nurses? Public health nurses and child protection in Ireland

An exploratory, focus group methodology was used to elicit the views of public health nurses (PHNs) on the topic of child welfare and protection in the context of new legislation and evolving child care policy in Ireland. The nursesʹ views were considerably at variance with the officially stated commitment to inter-disciplinary collaboration and coordination within the Community Care Programmes of Irelandʹs regional health boards. The PHNs feared that involvement in child care proceedings of a social control or adversarial nature would compromise them in terms of their traditional curative and preventive health roles, and, on this basis, argued that social workers should retain the bulk, if not all, of the responsibility for such child care activity. The nurses also defined their work roles in terms of their own traditional, professional commitment to individuals, families and communities, and felt less bound by or even aware of the corporate responsibility of their employing health board. It is concluded that the enactment of new legislation and allocation of additional resources do not resolve the issues of inter-disciplinary collaboration in this area.