Dr. Sinead Whiting
Assistant Professor, Social Studies

Projects

• Title
  • The lived experience of of young adults who grew up in foster care with permanence
• Summary
  • A lack of stability and permanence for young people growing up in long-term out of home care is a common critique of child welfare systems. Legal permanence through the use of adoption gained some priority, however, increasingly relational permanence, defined as an enduring and supportive relationships, is seen as important (Perez,2017; McSherry et al,2016 & 2018). In Ireland many young people raised in long-term foster care continue living with their foster carers even after aging out of care. Only a small number are adopted, and adoption tends to occur in late teen years, by long-term foster carers. Thus, while adoption occurs infrequently, stability within foster placements appears common, leading to young people potentially experiencing either legal or relational permanence. This study will investigate the lived experience of a group of young adults who grew up foster care with permanence, in Ireland. In-depth qualitative interviews with 22 young adults in their 20s were undertaken. Through reflective thematic analysis and including the lens of youth transitions, insights were uncovered that have allowed for a broadening of understandings into how permanence is conceptualised for young people growing up in permanent foster care.
• Date From
  • Sept 2016
• Date To
  • April 2023

• Title
  • Pivot Project Research Consortium
• Summary
  • The Pivot Project Research Consortium is a Community of Practice that was formed with the coming together of six social researchers, from the same school within the one university. The commonality that drew the group together was the impact of the public health measures, put in place to manage the pandemic, upon the process of data collection for each of our research projects. Specifically we were all adapting to the need to pivot to online data collection methods. What evolved was a Community of Practice that facilitated ongoing dialogue, that transcended the use of online data collection, to a deeper conversation about wider methodological, epistemological and ontological issues that were impacting upon each project in diverse but similar ways.
• Date From
  • May 2020
• Date To
  • Ongoing

• Title
  • Hybrid Placement Model
• Summary
  • Development of the Hybrid Placement Model in conjunction with Dr Erna O'Connor and social work colleagues in the School of Social Work and Social Policy; Dr Stephanie Holt, Professor Robbie Gilligan, Dr Eavan Brady, Dr Michael Feely, Dr Ruth Elliffe, Dr Susan Flynn, Dr Stan Houston. This model was developed to support social work practice placements to continue in the context of public health measures brought in as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The model demonstrates how practice placements can take place via on-site learning, off-site learning, on-site learning and reflective practice. Each of the CORU/SWRB proficiencies are mapped to the model. The Hybrid Placement Model has been adopted by all HEIs providing social work education in Republic of Ireland.
• Date From
  • Aug 2020
• Date To
  • Dec 2021

• Summary
  • An inter-disciplinary study investigating the experiences of students from allied health and social work professions of undertaking a professional placement during the Covid-19 pandemic. This mixed methods study reports on the students' experiences and suggests a triad of supports were instrumental in supporting the the students during this difficult placement cycle. Findings indicate value of the triad of supports for supporting student placements.
• Date From
  • June 2021