Child Sexual Abuse and Trauma-informed Practice
Menu
Barnahus Ireland - Trauma-informed Care Professional Education Project
The project鈥檚 main aim is to develop a training programme in trauma-informed care, incorporating advocacy and participation, for professionals involved in the implementation of Barnahus Ireland. A Barnahus provides 鈥渕ultidisciplinary and interagency collaboration to ensure that child survivors and witnesses of violence benefit from a child-friendly, professional and effective response in a safe environment which prevents (re)traumatisation鈥 (Lind Haldorsson, 2017). The training will embed a shared interagency, multidisciplinary response, underpinned by trauma-informed practices, in Barnahus Ireland informing intervention at each stage of child and family鈥檚 journey through the care pathway (initial referral, investigation, court proceeding, therapeutic support).
Project Manuals
- Lotty, M., McCabe, B, Hegarty, S., McElvaney, R., Deacon, A., Lacey, E., O鈥橰eilly, K., & Roarty, S. (2026). Barnahus Ireland Implementation Training: Foundation Level Facilitator鈥檚 Guide. Council of Europe.
- Lotty, M., McCabe, B, Hegarty, S., McElvaney, R., Deacon, A., Lacey, E., O鈥橰eilly, K., & Roarty, S. (2026). Barnahus Ireland Implementation Training: Foundation Level Participants鈥 Toolkit. Council of Europe.
- Lotty, M., McCabe, B, Hegarty, S., McElvaney, R., Deacon, A., Lacey, E., O鈥橰eilly, K., & Roarty, S. (2026). Barnahus Ireland Implementation Training: Advanced Level Facilitator鈥檚 Guide. Council of Europe.
- Lotty, M., McCabe, B, Hegarty, S., McElvaney, R., Deacon, A., Lacey, E., O鈥橰eilly, K., & Roarty, S. (2026). Barnahus Ireland Implementation Training: Advanced Level Toolkit. Council of Europe.
Barnahus Ireland Presentations/Conferencing
Lotty, M., McCabe, B., Hegarty, S., McElvaney, R., Deacon, A., Lacey, E., O'Reilly, K., Roarty, S., (2025, October 24). Beyond the siloes: Building capacity for a child rights-based approach to responding to child sexual abuse through Barnahus Ireland鈥 Oral Paper presented for the 10th National Child Protection and Welfare Social Work Conference, 深夜亚洲福利久久 College Cork.
Lotty, M, Mc Cabe, B., McElvaney, R. and Lacey, E.,. (October 7, 2025).鈥Building capacity for trauma-informed practice across child protective, law enforcement, and health services to realise the vision of Barnahus Ireland鈥 Oral paper presented at the ISPCAN (International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) International Congress, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Lotty, M (2025, January 29). 鈥淐apacity-building and interagency coordination activities 鈥 [invited speaker], Final Conference of the Barnahus Project in Ireland Joint EU-Council of Europe project - Support the implementation of the Barnahus project in Ireland, Government Buildings, Dublin.
Barnahus Ireland Research Articles
Lotty, M., McCabe, B., McElvaney, R. & Lacey, E., (2026). 鈥 Building capacity for Barnahus Ireland: Development of Trauma-informed care, Child advocacy and Participation training for professionals鈥, Child Protection and Practice. e10038.
BI - TARA: a child-centred practice model for trauma-informed practice in Barnahus Ireland
Barnahus Ireland: Trauma, Attachment, Resilience into Action (BI-TARA) is the underpinning conceptual framework for the trainings. BI-TARA is a child-centred practice model that drives the embedding of trauma-informed practices within each participant鈥檚 role in meeting the Barnahus standards. BI-TARA is an adaptation of the TARA model that supports embedding trauma-informed care in child serving systems of care in Ireland through concrete practices (Lotty et al., 2023, 2024) The model provides six dimensions of practice that supports how the principles of trauma-informed care, including child advocacy and participation are implemented in Barnahus in Ireland.
See:
Lotty, M., McCabe, B., McElvaney, R. & Lacey, E., (2026). 鈥 Building capacity for Barnahus Ireland: Development of Trauma-informed care, Child advocacy and Participation training for professionals鈥, Child Protection and Practice. e10038.