Perceptions of Risk and Decisions of Referring Children at Risk

Søbjerg, Lene Mosegaard; Nirmalarajan, Liesanth Yde; Villumsen, Anne Marie Anker

doi:10.1080/13575279.2019.1685460

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The data analysed by the model were drawn from the child and family services through the child's social security number (CPR). However, about 5 per cent of all referrals in Denmark are about unborn children (Søbjerg et al, 2020). As only living individuals have a social security number, referrals about unborn children could not be included in the model.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the Danish child and family welfare services operate with a high focus on prevention, few referrals include information about children in acute risk. This is accentuated by the fact that up to 60 per cent of referrals made in Denmark are about existing cases (Søbjerg et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The increase can be explained by a number of public scandals about neglected and abused children who were not identified to be at risk despite repeated referrals to child and family welfare services (Søbjerg, 2017). These scandals led to an increased awareness of children at risk, which was combined with a tightening of legislation in the Consolidation Act on Social Services (2015) that made it possible to prosecute public employees who have knowledge of children at risk but do not refer them to child and family welfare services (Søbjerg et al, 2020). However, the large increase in referrals places a strain on resources to assess children at risk.…”

Section: Referrals and Decision‐making In A Danish Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on these referrals, social workers assess the existence and severity of risk to the child. However, when handling children at risk, decisions are made in a room of uncertainty, because the very term ‘risk’ indicates that a harmful event potentially but not certainly will occur (Søbjerg et al, 2020). We are dealing with situations where the outcomes are uncertain and where positive benefits are sought but undesirable outcomes are possible (Stanley, 2013; Taylor, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Developing a statistical model for assessment of referrals of children at risk

Søbjerg

2022

Child Abuse Review

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Including statistical models in assessment of referrals about children at risk holds promising aspects. This article presents results from an empirical pilot study developing and testing a statistical decision support system in the form of a predictive risk model.The study involved mixed methods and included 208 referrals assessed by 13 social workers in two municipalities in Denmark. The research design involved comparing risk scores provided by the social workers before and after they received a score generated by the model. Social workers' perception of the model was studied through qualitative interviews before, during and after the test. The quantitative results of the study show that presenting a statistical risk score to social workers only marginally changes their initial assessment of a referral. In contrast, the qualitative findings appeared to show that social workers are ready to include statistics in the decision-making process, but that some elements need to be considered. These include the definition of risk being used and the linking of this definition with the available data as well as the needs of the social workers. It is important to remember that a statistical model can supportnot definethe assessment. Statistical decision support systems based on predictive risk models might prove rewarding in providing more accurate and homogeneous assessments in child protection. Important issues to consider when developing a model are the definition of risk, the data available to the model and communication of the risk calculated. Risk assessments are based on uncertainties and while statistics might limit the uncertainty, data do not eliminate ambiguity of risk assessment. Social workers should engage in the development of statistical tools, but it is important to acknowledge that decisions should always be made by the professional, not the model.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Referrals and Decision‐making In A Danish Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Developing a statistical model for assessment of referrals of children at risk

Søbjerg

2022

Child Abuse Review

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“…Innenfor forskning om meldinger er det for eksempel i hovedsak profesjonelles og foreldres perspektiver som har fått plass, mens barns og unges perspektiver i svaert liten grad, om i det hele tatt, har vaert inkludert (f.eks. Alazri & Hanna, 2020;Brattabø et al, 2018;Breimo et al, 2021;Keilman, 2017;Christodoulou et al, 2019;Gallagher-Mackay, 2014;McTavish et al, 2019;Søbjerg et al, 2020). Å synliggjøre ungdoms arbeid og arbeidskunnskap, og hvordan noen unge går fram for å få hjelp, er etter min mening viktig for at barnevernsansatte skal kunne møte og hjelpe unge på best mulig måte.…”

Section: å Undersøke Barns Og Unges Arbeid Ved Hjelp Av Institusjonel...unclassified

På jakt etter styring i arbeidsavklaringsprosessen

Åsheim

2023

Erfaringer Med Institusjonell Etnografi

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In this chapter, I show how I applied institutional ethnography to explore the work assessment process in the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (Nav) on behalf of young people with mental health issues. I show how institutional ethnography was helpful as a method of inquiry to explicate the assessment process and how central analytical concepts such as “work” can make ruling relations visible. Finally, I discuss the possibility of generalization and show how I developed the concept of “institutional perseverance” through conceptual generalization.

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Supervisory neglect: Critical questions regarding child supervision and protection system responses

O'Kane,

Brussoni

2024

Children and Youth Services Review

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Perceptions of Risk and Decisions of Referring Children at Risk

Cited by 13 publications

References 30 publications

Developing a statistical model for assessment of referrals of children at risk

Developing a statistical model for assessment of referrals of children at risk

På jakt etter styring i arbeidsavklaringsprosessen

Supervisory neglect: Critical questions regarding child supervision and protection system responses

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