Those with Care Experience, Academics, Professionals and many others will explore and recommend how we, as a society, can ensure better, more equitable outcomes for the children and young people who come through our care system.

These webinars will seek to provide participants with an overview of the unique issues facing care experienced children and young people in terms of LGBTI+, Ethnicity, Education, Disability, Accommodation and Justice.

During this webinar we will hear from Dr. Clíona Rooney, post-doctoral researcher at the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre at NUI Galway, on her work in exploring ethnic data collection for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.

Nikiwe Dube, Clinical Psychologist, will tell us about his experience working with children and young people in the care system here in Ireland and the issues and challenges they face in relation to their ethnicity and identity.

Before our live Q&A, we will have the opportunity to enjoy a discussion between Reo, a member of EPIC’s Youth Council, and Nikiwe as they chat about ethnicity and identity from perspectives of their own lived experiences.

Speaker/Contributor Bios:

Susan Mackey

Susan Mackey holds a Master of Social Work (MSW), HDip Social Policy and BSc (Hons) from University College Cork. Susan also currently works as a Social Worker with the Neighborhood Youth Project, Mayfield and worked as a tutor on the MSW programme, UCC from 2017-18. She was Chairperson on the IASW Special Interest Group on Migration from 2017-18 and now serves as a Committee member. She was also awarded funding by the Irish Research Council to carry out PhD research with Nasc and the School of Applied Social Studies, UCC. This study looked at Child Protection and Welfare Social Work with refugee and asylum-seeking children and families

Dr. Clíona Rooney

Dr. Clíona Rooney holds a B.Sc. (Hons) Architecture from Queen’s University Belfast (2004-2007). She has worked as a Part II Architect in both urban and rural practices. Her PhD research entitled ‘Blind Spot: An investigation into Lifetime Home Standards and Visual Impairment’, explored how age related housing could become more inclusive of visually impaired people.

Since her PhD, Clíona was employed as a post-doctoral researcher at Maynooth University and the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre at the National University of Ireland Galway. She has co-authored a feasibility report for conducting a longitudinal study on children in care in Ireland and a report exploring ethnic data collection for the child and family agency.

She is a member of the RIAI Universal Design Task Force (UDTF) and is working in Architectural Services at the Office of Public Works (OPW).

Nikiwe Dube

Nikiwe was born in Zimbabwe in the 1980’s. He attended the University of Zimbabwe where he graduated with a First Class double major in Psychology and Social Sciences. From there, he continued his studies and attained a First Class Masters in Clinical Psychology. He identifies as a gay man, and coming from a country with very little human rights, he knows the suffering endured by these marginalized communities and took it upon himself to want to empower young people in their journey to finding themselves.

Ethnicity and Identity are major concerns in many societies, evidenced but high racism and intolerance. He is a keen advocate for equality among everyone and feels empowering and nurturing young people is a step towards a better tomorrow for all of us. Nikiwe currently works with children and young people in residential care.

Róisín Farragher

Róisín is a care leaver, doctoral researcher and part time teaching assistant with NUI Galway. Her current area of research is based on understanding 'family' and family relationships for young people with experience of the care system in Ireland. Róisín has extensive experience in community based activities and in working with youth-based organisations. She also has a number of publications in national and international journals.

Reoland Pepa

Reo is currently studying media production and is a member of EPIC’s Youth Council. He is passionate about ensuring that children and young people with care experience are aware of their rights and are supported in reaching their greatest potential. He wants to give people without care experience an understanding of the care system and how it feels to spend part of your life in the system by using his own personal examples.

Please note, these webinars are aimed at ages 16+