Dominic Mcsherry
Biographic Data
| ID | 4227797 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dominic Mcsherry |
| GIVEN NAMES | Dominic |
| FAMILY NAME | Mcsherry |
| SIGNATURE | MCSHERRY D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Queen's University Belfast |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 109 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The effects of child protection social worker turnover on children and families
For children and families engaged with statutory child protection systems, the loss of a social worker is more than a staffing issue; it is often the loss of a trusted relationship in a time of deep vulnerability. This scoping review explores the impact of social worker turnover on children, families, and carers, highlighting how instability in the workforce undermines the very relationships intended to support safety, placement stability, and pe…
ACE Enquiry in Primary care
This study sought to identify gaps in the current literature base by exploring the perspectives of General Practitioners (GPs) in Northern Ireland in relation to the significance, relevance, and feasibility of conducting a comprehensive inquiry into Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) with patients. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 qualified GPs using Zoom Videoconferencing technology. Interviews were audio recorded an…
The Emotional Nature of Birth Family Relationships for Care-experienced and Adopted Young People
Research focused on relationships and contact with birth family for children and young people who were separated from them as infants has rarely acknowledged the emotional and dynamic nature of such interactions. Curiosity has been dominant in adoption research. However, in our longitudinal study of young people who entered care at a young age, a range of other feelings and combination of feelings emerged in the youths' narratives, including cont…
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Goodman, 1997) is a brief behavioural screening questionnaire for three- to sixteen-year-olds. It is commonly used in clinical practice and research, particularly in the UK, and is completed by parents, carers and teachers. The measure was utilised in a cross-sectional phase of a longitudinal study of children in care, namely the Care Pathways and Outcomes Study, alongside a measure of parenting…
The Mental Health and Help-Seeking Behaviour of Children and Young People in Care in Northern Ireland
Largely as a result of early adverse experiences, children and young people in care are more likely to suffer from mental health difficulties than their peers. Despite these difficulties, they tend to find it hard to seek help and engage with professional services to address their needs. In Northern Ireland, the Mind Your Health study collected data for 233 children and young people in care through phone interviews with their carers, and twenty-f…
Home on a care order
Compared to children in other placements, there is much less known about the characteristics and needs of children in the UK who are returned to their birth parents with a care order still in place. That is in spite of evidence to suggest they face more difficulties than young people in other placements. Based on a 2009 census of looked after children in Northern Ireland, just under 10% ( n = 193) were found to be living at home under a care orde…
Comparing long-term placements for young children in care
Constrained adoptive parenthood and family transition
Adoption policy in the UK emphasizes its role in providing secure, permanent relationships to children in care who are unable to live with their birth families. Adoptive parents are crucial in providing this life‐long, stable experience of family for these vulnerable children. This paper explores the experience of adoptive parenthood in the context of changes to adoptive kinship relationships brought about by new, unplanned contact with birth fam…
Open Adoption
The trend towards more open adoption presents adopters with unique parenting challenges associated with satisfying the child's curiosity about their origins and maintaining relationships with birth family through contact. This article by Mandi MacDonald and Dominic McSherry focuses on the experiences of 20 sets of adoptive parents who were interviewed as part of the Northern Ireland Care Pathways and Outcomes Study. Interviews were analysed follo…
Research With Children
In the past few decades, a growing body of literature examining children’s perspectives on their own lives has developed within a variety of disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, anthropology and geography. This article provides a brief up-to-date examination of methodological and ethical issues that researchers may need to consider when designing research studies involving children; and a review of some of the methods and techniques used t…
Young children returning home from care
While a wide range of literature exists on the experiences of children in foster care or adoption, much less is known about children who return home from care to their birth parents. This paper focuses on the perspectives of a small sample of birth parents of young children who returned home from care. It draws on findings from the Northern Ireland Care Pathways and Outcomes Study that has been following a population ( n = 374) of children who we…
Who Goes Where
This is one of a series of articles reporting on the large-scale Northern Ireland care pathways and outcomes study (McSherry et al, 2008). The study has been examining a population of young children (n = 374) who were in care under five years of age in Northern Ireland and followed up across a four-year period (2000–2004). It has mapped these young children's care careers and explored factors relating to five care pathways that these children pro…
Adoption from care in Northern Ireland
This is a study of the processes for freeing children for adoption in Northern Ireland. The focus was the time taken from admission to care to adoption order. The findings confirmed that the process is dogged by delay at each stage. In total the average time from the child becoming looked after to the granting of an adoption order was 4.5 years. Most of the time taken was in the stages for which social services had lead responsibility, principall…
Freeing Order Processes in Northern Ireland
Greg Kelly and Dominic McSherry describe the timescales involved in achieving freeing orders for 23 children in Northern Ireland between 1996 and 1999. There was delay at all stages in the process. The delays were particularly pronounced in social services and social services/legal services processes. The authors conclude that if adoption is to be made available to more children from state care, current arrangements, including legislation, will n…
Research With Children
In the past few decades, a growing body of literature examining children’s perspectives on their own lives has developed within a variety of disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, anthropology and geography. This article provides a brief up-to-date examination of methodological and ethical issues that researchers may need to consider when designing research studies involving children; and a review of some of the methods and techniques used t…
Open Adoption
The trend towards more open adoption presents adopters with unique parenting challenges associated with satisfying the child's curiosity about their origins and maintaining relationships with birth family through contact. This article by Mandi MacDonald and Dominic McSherry focuses on the experiences of 20 sets of adoptive parents who were interviewed as part of the Northern Ireland Care Pathways and Outcomes Study. Interviews were analysed follo…
Young children returning home from care
While a wide range of literature exists on the experiences of children in foster care or adoption, much less is known about children who return home from care to their birth parents. This paper focuses on the perspectives of a small sample of birth parents of young children who returned home from care. It draws on findings from the Northern Ireland Care Pathways and Outcomes Study that has been following a population ( n = 374) of children who we…
Constrained adoptive parenthood and family transition
Adoption policy in the UK emphasizes its role in providing secure, permanent relationships to children in care who are unable to live with their birth families. Adoptive parents are crucial in providing this life‐long, stable experience of family for these vulnerable children. This paper explores the experience of adoptive parenthood in the context of changes to adoptive kinship relationships brought about by new, unplanned contact with birth fam…
Who Goes Where
This is one of a series of articles reporting on the large-scale Northern Ireland care pathways and outcomes study (McSherry et al, 2008). The study has been examining a population of young children (n = 374) who were in care under five years of age in Northern Ireland and followed up across a four-year period (2000–2004). It has mapped these young children's care careers and explored factors relating to five care pathways that these children pro…
Comparing long-term placements for young children in care
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Goodman, 1997) is a brief behavioural screening questionnaire for three- to sixteen-year-olds. It is commonly used in clinical practice and research, particularly in the UK, and is completed by parents, carers and teachers. The measure was utilised in a cross-sectional phase of a longitudinal study of children in care, namely the Care Pathways and Outcomes Study, alongside a measure of parenting…
The Mental Health and Help-Seeking Behaviour of Children and Young People in Care in Northern Ireland
Largely as a result of early adverse experiences, children and young people in care are more likely to suffer from mental health difficulties than their peers. Despite these difficulties, they tend to find it hard to seek help and engage with professional services to address their needs. In Northern Ireland, the Mind Your Health study collected data for 233 children and young people in care through phone interviews with their carers, and twenty-f…
Home on a care order
Compared to children in other placements, there is much less known about the characteristics and needs of children in the UK who are returned to their birth parents with a care order still in place. That is in spite of evidence to suggest they face more difficulties than young people in other placements. Based on a 2009 census of looked after children in Northern Ireland, just under 10% ( n = 193) were found to be living at home under a care orde…
Adoption from care in Northern Ireland
This is a study of the processes for freeing children for adoption in Northern Ireland. The focus was the time taken from admission to care to adoption order. The findings confirmed that the process is dogged by delay at each stage. In total the average time from the child becoming looked after to the granting of an adoption order was 4.5 years. Most of the time taken was in the stages for which social services had lead responsibility, principall…
Freeing Order Processes in Northern Ireland
Greg Kelly and Dominic McSherry describe the timescales involved in achieving freeing orders for 23 children in Northern Ireland between 1996 and 1999. There was delay at all stages in the process. The delays were particularly pronounced in social services and social services/legal services processes. The authors conclude that if adoption is to be made available to more children from state care, current arrangements, including legislation, will n…
Freeing Order Processes in Northern Ireland
Greg Kelly and Dominic McSherry describe the timescales involved in achieving freeing orders for 23 children in Northern Ireland between 1996 and 1999. There was delay at all stages in the process. The delays were particularly pronounced in social services and social services/legal services processes. The authors conclude that if adoption is to be made available to more children from state care, current arrangements, including legislation, will n…
Adoption from care in Northern Ireland
This is a study of the processes for freeing children for adoption in Northern Ireland. The focus was the time taken from admission to care to adoption order. The findings confirmed that the process is dogged by delay at each stage. In total the average time from the child becoming looked after to the granting of an adoption order was 4.5 years. Most of the time taken was in the stages for which social services had lead responsibility, principall…
Research With Children
In the past few decades, a growing body of literature examining children’s perspectives on their own lives has developed within a variety of disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, anthropology and geography. This article provides a brief up-to-date examination of methodological and ethical issues that researchers may need to consider when designing research studies involving children; and a review of some of the methods and techniques used t…
Young children returning home from care
While a wide range of literature exists on the experiences of children in foster care or adoption, much less is known about children who return home from care to their birth parents. This paper focuses on the perspectives of a small sample of birth parents of young children who returned home from care. It draws on findings from the Northern Ireland Care Pathways and Outcomes Study that has been following a population ( n = 374) of children who we…
Who Goes Where
This is one of a series of articles reporting on the large-scale Northern Ireland care pathways and outcomes study (McSherry et al, 2008). The study has been examining a population of young children (n = 374) who were in care under five years of age in Northern Ireland and followed up across a four-year period (2000–2004). It has mapped these young children's care careers and explored factors relating to five care pathways that these children pro…
Open Adoption
The trend towards more open adoption presents adopters with unique parenting challenges associated with satisfying the child's curiosity about their origins and maintaining relationships with birth family through contact. This article by Mandi MacDonald and Dominic McSherry focuses on the experiences of 20 sets of adoptive parents who were interviewed as part of the Northern Ireland Care Pathways and Outcomes Study. Interviews were analysed follo…
Constrained adoptive parenthood and family transition
Adoption policy in the UK emphasizes its role in providing secure, permanent relationships to children in care who are unable to live with their birth families. Adoptive parents are crucial in providing this life‐long, stable experience of family for these vulnerable children. This paper explores the experience of adoptive parenthood in the context of changes to adoptive kinship relationships brought about by new, unplanned contact with birth fam…
Home on a care order
Compared to children in other placements, there is much less known about the characteristics and needs of children in the UK who are returned to their birth parents with a care order still in place. That is in spite of evidence to suggest they face more difficulties than young people in other placements. Based on a 2009 census of looked after children in Northern Ireland, just under 10% ( n = 193) were found to be living at home under a care orde…
Comparing long-term placements for young children in care
The Mental Health and Help-Seeking Behaviour of Children and Young People in Care in Northern Ireland
Largely as a result of early adverse experiences, children and young people in care are more likely to suffer from mental health difficulties than their peers. Despite these difficulties, they tend to find it hard to seek help and engage with professional services to address their needs. In Northern Ireland, the Mind Your Health study collected data for 233 children and young people in care through phone interviews with their carers, and twenty-f…
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Goodman, 1997) is a brief behavioural screening questionnaire for three- to sixteen-year-olds. It is commonly used in clinical practice and research, particularly in the UK, and is completed by parents, carers and teachers. The measure was utilised in a cross-sectional phase of a longitudinal study of children in care, namely the Care Pathways and Outcomes Study, alongside a measure of parenting…
The Emotional Nature of Birth Family Relationships for Care-experienced and Adopted Young People
Research focused on relationships and contact with birth family for children and young people who were separated from them as infants has rarely acknowledged the emotional and dynamic nature of such interactions. Curiosity has been dominant in adoption research. However, in our longitudinal study of young people who entered care at a young age, a range of other feelings and combination of feelings emerged in the youths' narratives, including cont…
ACE Enquiry in Primary care
This study sought to identify gaps in the current literature base by exploring the perspectives of General Practitioners (GPs) in Northern Ireland in relation to the significance, relevance, and feasibility of conducting a comprehensive inquiry into Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) with patients. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 qualified GPs using Zoom Videoconferencing technology. Interviews were audio recorded an…
The effects of child protection social worker turnover on children and families
For children and families engaged with statutory child protection systems, the loss of a social worker is more than a staffing issue; it is often the loss of a trusted relationship in a time of deep vulnerability. This scoping review explores the impact of social worker turnover on children, families, and carers, highlighting how instability in the workforce undermines the very relationships intended to support safety, placement stability, and pe…
Psychology (12 works) · Child Welfare and Adoption (11 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (7 works) · Nursing (7 works) · Developmental psychology (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works)