Voluntary care agreements form a significant part of child protection systems in many jurisdictions. From a children’s rights perspective, they enjoy numerous advantages over court-ordered removals of children. However, when loosely regulated, voluntary care agreements can give rise to significant concerns in respect of compliance with international children’s rights law. This paper will present findings from the Voluntary Care in Ireland Study, one of the first in-depth empirical examinations internationally of voluntary care agreements. It will present qualitative data on the system in operation in Ireland that indicates that voluntary care agreements are less adversarial, time-consuming and costly than court proceedings. This frees up resources for early intervention and facilitates a more collaborative relationship between parents and social services, making it more likely that children will remain at home or eventually return home from care. At the same time, the findings suggest that the voluntary care system currently operated in Ireland suffer from numerous flaws, including absence of independent oversight; unlimited duration; potential instability (since parents can withdraw consent at any time); weak mechanisms for child participation; and inferior resource allocation compared to court-ordered care placements. The paper examines legislative provisions from a number of comparable jurisdictions and makes recommendations designed to ensure that the voluntary care system in Ireland complies more strongly with principles of international children’s rights law.

在许多司法管辖区中，自愿照料协议是儿童保护系统的重要组成部分。从儿童权利的角度来看，他们比法院下令遣送儿童享有许多优势。但是，如果监管松散，自愿照料协议可能会引起对遵守国际儿童权利法的重大关注。本文将介绍爱尔兰志愿服务研究的结果，这是国际上有关自愿护理协议的首批深入实证研究之一。它将提供有关在爱尔兰运行的系统的定性数据，表明与法院诉讼程序相比，自愿护理协议的对抗性，耗时和成本较低。这释放了用于早期干预的资源，并促进了父母与社会服务机构之间更紧密的合作关系，使孩子更有可能留在家里或最终从护理中返回家中。同时，调查结果表明，爱尔兰目前正在运作的自愿护理系统存在许多缺陷，包括缺乏独立的监督；无限期; 潜在的不稳定因素（因为父母可以随时撤回同意）；儿童参与的机制薄弱；与法院命令的医疗安排相比，资源分配较差。本文研究了来自多个类似司法管辖区的立法规定，并提出了一些建议，以确保爱尔兰的自愿照料系统更加严格地遵守国际儿童权利法的原则。