The IASCW derives its title from a change made in 2004 when the letter “S” for SOCIAL was introduced into the then title IACW (Irish Association of Care Workers). That title (IACW) had taken the place in the late 1980s when child care managers and workers in the residential field (the AWCC – Association of Workers with Children in Care) went their separate ways. The AWCC had its beginnings in the early 1970’s following on the then recent publication of the Kennedy Report and a general development in attitude and thinking which brought the plight and circumstances of children in care more into the public arena. The association at its foundation and through its early years was dominated by religious. That dominance dwindled over time with the decline in vocations and the movement away from residential child care by some of the religious orders. The early years of the AWCC were characterised by an emergent sense of purpose that

· training, with the new Kilkenny course (1971), would greatly increase the efficiency and expertise of then current as well as prospective staff;

· the steady increase in the numbers of men who were getting into the residential child care field was a welcome development that would, hopefully, continue;

· non religious workers were making very legitimate demands around terms and conditions of employment;

· there was even talk of (perish the thought!) trade union membership;

· though not immediately, the legislation governing residential and emerging community child care would be overhauled;

· the Scottish system (following on the Kilbrandon Report in 1964) and the CYP (Children & Young Persons’ Act 1969) in the UK suggested a much more user friendly approach to young offenders. More....