Reasons for placement decisions in a case of suspected child abuse: The role of reasoning, work experience and attitudes in decision-making

Abstract

Child welfare and child protection workers regularly make placement decisions in child abuse cases, but how they reach these decisions is not well understood. This study focuses on workers' rationales. The aim was to investigate the kinds of arguments provided in placement decisions and whether these arguments were predictors for the decision, in addition to the decision-makers' risk assessment, work experience and attitudes towards placement. The sample consisted of 214 professionals and 381 students from the Netherlands. The participants were presented with a vignette describing a case of alleged child abuse and were asked to determine whether the abuse was substantiated, to assess risks and to recommend an intervention. The participants' placement attitudes were assessed using a structured questionnaire. We found that the participants provided a wide range of arguments, but that core arguments - such as the suspected abuse, parenting and parent-child interaction - were often missing. Regression analyses showed that the higher the perceived danger to the child and the more positive the participants' attitudes towards placement, the more likely the participants would be to propose placing the child in care. Arguments related to the severity of the problems (i.e., suspected abuse, parenting and the child's development) as well as the parents' perceived cooperation also influenced placement decisions. The findings indicate trends in the decision-making process, in the sense that participants who decided to place the child out-of-home emphasized different arguments and had different attitudes towards out-of-home placement than those who did not. We discuss the implications of our findings.

Young Children and Ongoing Child Welfare Services: A Multilevel Examination of Clinical and Worker Characteristics

“…In a recent 3-level multilevel analysis of the CIS-2008 that included children under 15 years, Lwin et al (2018a) did not find any child welfare worker characteristics that predicted the ongoing services provision. The association between worker experience and decision making remains inconsistent and is not well-understood, emphasizing the need for additional research to better understand worker contributions to service (Bartelink et al, 2018; Font & Maguire-Jack, 2015). Overall, there is little consistency in the factors that predict the ongoing child welfare services decision in the literature.…”

Out-of-home placement decisions: How individual characteristics of professionals are reflected in deciding about child protection cases

“…Furthermore, research concerning the implementation of placement decisions shows that novices are more inclined to directly implement decisions than experienced professionals (Davidson-Arad et al, 2003). Contrariwise, other studies report no difference in the decision-making process of students and professionals (Bartelink et al, 2017). Although these studies did not examine the specific decision-making process concerning out-of-home placement, they indicate important differences in the decision-making process of child welfare professionals in comparison to novices or students.…”

“…Although already decades ago (Munro, 1999; Portwood, 1998), researchers pointed out the importance of studying decision-maker factors such as professionals’ experience, background or implicit beliefs and attitudes, few studies investigated these characteristics while the results thereof are inconclusive (Ryan, Garnier, Zyphur, & Zhai, 2006). For instance, where some studies find significant differences in the decision-making of experienced professionals and students (De Ruiter et al, 2013) or experienced professionals and novices (Davidson-Arad, Englechin-Segal, Wozner, & Gabriel, 2003), other studies find no significant differences between groups (Bartelink et al, 2017). Moreover, most studies that did investigate decision-maker characteristics focused on the role of work experience or professional background and on this basis were able to explain only a small amount of variance between professionals taking these decisions (e.g., Benbenishty et al, 2002; Benbenishty et al, 2003; Britner & Mossler, 2002; De Ruiter et al, 2013; Drury-Hudson, 1997; Gold et al, 2001).…”

“…In addition to these general characteristics of decision-makers, psychological decision-maker characteristics such as professionals’ attitudes and opinions may explain part of the variance in out-of-home placement decisions, but these are only examined by a handful of studies while giving mixed results (e.g., Bartelink et al, 2018; Davidson-Arad & Benbenishty, 2016; Rodrigues, Calheiros, & Pereira, 2015). Garb (2005) argued that the implicit beliefs of professionals, for instance about the capacity of parents to achieve change regarding their child-rearing capacities, influence their decision-making.…”

“…Notably, this model shows that professionals who have a negative attitude toward removal and a positive attitude to parents’ and children’s participation in decision-making make fewer recommendations for placement of the child out of the home (Davidson-Arad & Benbenishty, 2016). Moreover, professionals with a more positive attitude toward placement in care are more inclined to propose an out-of-home placement than professionals with a more negative view of out-of-home placement (Bartelink et al, 2018). This suggests that professionals who have different opinions about the effectiveness and harmfulness of an out-of-home placement for children may decide about out-of-home placement differently, namely, where a professional who considers an out-of-home placement effective and not harmful might be more inclined to place a child out of the home than a professional who views an out-of-home placement as a harmful and a not so effective intervention.…”