The child welfare service's assessments in custody cases that involve minors

Should we take their children? Caseworkers’ negotiations of ‘good enough’ care for children living with high-conflict parents

“…These difficulties are related to CPS professionals' struggle to understand the nature of conflict, uncertainties about exposure to conflict's connection to children's emotional harm and failures to protect offspring caught up in their parents' conflicts (Saini et al, 2019). In addition, factors such as values, resources and competencies appear to influence decisions on whether official notifications are dropped during intake procedures (Rød et al, 2013).…”

Negotiating client positions: parents with custodial disagreements talking about their experiences with child welfare workers

“…Child welfare practice in cases involving custodial disagreements takes place in a legal and organisational grey zone, which makes caseworkers uncertain about the legal framework, their professional mandate (Jevne and Ulvik 2012;Stang 2013Stang , 2014 and what kinds of problems may justify child welfare involvement (Rød, Iversen, and Underlid 2013). Based on how the parents describe child welfare work, CWS's measures, or lack of them, were strongly associated with how professionals actively defined their professional mandate, and how they included or excluded different aspects of custodial disagreements in child welfare work.…”

“…Yet, studies suggest that professionals find it challenging to work in this legal and professional grey zone (Jevne and Ulvik 2012;Rød, Iversen, and Underlid 2013;Stang 2013Stang , 2014. One grey zone challenge is to find the right balance between identifying families needing help and avoiding drawing families inappropriately into the child welfare system.…”

“…Caseworkers may be uncertain about the relevant legal framework and their professional mandate (Jevne and Ulvik 2012;Stang 2013Stang , 2014. Although information about violence and notes of concern from the family mediation offices usually leads to an investigation, Rød, Iversen and Underlid (2013) find that it still is relatively unpredictable what kinds of problems may justify CW involvement.…”

Challenges and dilemmas working with high‐conflict families in child protection casework

“…Thus, an additional challenge for social workers is to define their roles and identify the interventions to be applied. They have also been criticized for failing to deliver adequate support for children exposed to high levels of conflict and for not investigating concerns about abuse, neglect, or inadequate care (Rød, ; Rød, Iversen, & Underlid, ). Another challenge for social workers is conducting risk assessments of parental conflict and the expected consequences for the child.…”