IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v32y2010i7p1020-1027.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Challenges in implementing participatory practice in child protection: A contingency approach

Author

Listed:
  • Darlington, Yvonne
  • Healy, Karen
  • Feeney, Judith A.

Abstract

In many countries, legislation and policy directives increasingly emphasize the rights of parents to participate in child protection decision-making. As these kinds of initiatives have become more widespread, literature has tended to presume that increased participation of parents in child protection practice is both feasible and desirable. However, despite demonstrated benefits of parents' participation, factors related to the statutory context of child protection work present challenges to translating the ideals of participation into reality. Findings from in-depth interviews with 28 child and family welfare practitioners indicate that effective parent participation is contingent on a range of parent and system factors. Parent factors include parents' willingness to engage with child welfare authorities, their demonstrated understanding of their children's needs, and their willingness to effect parenting changes in order to meet these needs. System factors relate to the power of the child protection system in relation to parents, and the extent to which workers have time for thorough case planning and for building relationships with parents. These factors are clearly interrelated, with some parent factors themselves contingent on parents' prior experiences of the child protection system. Practitioner suggestions for counter-balancing contingency factors as a means to facilitating parent participation are included.

Suggested Citation

  • Darlington, Yvonne & Healy, Karen & Feeney, Judith A., 2010. "Challenges in implementing participatory practice in child protection: A contingency approach," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1020-1027, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:32:y:2010:i:7:p:1020-1027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190-7409(10)00103-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arad-Davidzon, Bilhah & Benbenishty, Rami, 2008. "The role of workers' attitudes and parent and child wishes in child protection workers' assessments and recommendation regarding removal and reunification," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 107-121, January.
    2. Darlington, Yvonne & Healy, Karen & Feeney, Judith A., 2010. "Approaches to assessment and intervention across four types of child and family welfare services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 356-364, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gladstone, James & Dumbrill, Gary & Leslie, Bruce & Koster, Andrew & Young, Michelle & Ismaila, Afisi, 2014. "Understanding worker–parent engagement in child protection casework," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 56-64.
    2. Summers, Alicia & Wood, Steve M. & Russell, Jesse R. & Macgill, Stephanie O., 2012. "An evaluation of the effectiveness of a parent-to-parent program in changing attitudes and increasing parental engagement in the juvenile dependency system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 2036-2041.
    3. Eunice Magalhães & Maria Manuela Calheiros & Carla Antunes, 2018. "‘I Always Say What I Think’: a Rights-Based Approach of Young People’s Psychosocial Functioning in Residential Care," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(6), pages 1801-1816, December.
    4. Davies, Kate & Ross, Nicola & Cocks, Jessica & Foote, Wendy, 2023. "Family inclusion in child protection: Knowledge, power and resistance," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    5. Lehtme, Rafaela & Toros, Karmen, 2020. "Parental engagement in child protection assessment practice: Voices from parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    6. Darlington, Yvonne & Healy, Karen & Yellowlees, Josephine & Bosly, Fiona, 2012. "Parents' perceptions of their participation in mandated family group meetings," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 331-337.
    7. Arbeiter, Ere & Toros, Karmen, 2017. "Participatory discourse: Engagement in the context of child protection assessment practices from the perspectives of child protection workers, parents and children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 17-27.
    8. Tsantefski, Menka & Humphreys, Cathy & Jackson, Alun C., 2014. "Infant risk and safety in the context of maternal substance use," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P1), pages 10-17.
    9. Appleton, Jane V. & Terlektsi, Emmanouela & Coombes, Lindsey, 2013. "The use of sociograms to explore collaboration in child protection conferences," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2140-2146.
    10. Toros, Karmen & DiNitto, Diana Maria & Tiko, Anne, 2018. "Family engagement in the child welfare system: A scoping review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 598-607.
    11. Damiani-Taraba, Gissele & Dumbrill, Gary & Gladstone, James & Koster, Andrew & Leslie, Bruce & Charles, Michelle, 2017. "The evolving relationship between casework skills, engagement, and positive case outcomes in child protection: A structural equation model," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 456-462.
    12. Havlicek, Judy & Lin, Ching-Hsuan & Villalpando, Fabiola, 2016. "Web survey of foster youth advisory boards in the United States," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 109-118.
    13. Schreiber, Jill C. & Fuller, Tamara & Paceley, Megan S., 2013. "Engagement in child protective services: Parent perceptions of worker skills," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 707-715.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Emily Keddell, 2014. "Current Debates on Variability in Child Welfare Decision-Making: A Selected Literature Review," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-25, November.
    2. Toros, Karmen & Tiko, Anne & Saia, Koidu, 2013. "Child-centered approach in the context of the assessment of children in need: Reflections of child protection workers in Estonia," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1015-1022.
    3. Venables, Jemma, 2019. "Practitioner perspectives on implementing an alternative response in statutory child protection: The role of local practice context and leadership teams in shaping practice," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. de Kwaadsteniet, Leontien & Bartelink, Cora & Witteman, Cilia & ten Berge, Ingrid & van Yperen, Tom, 2013. "Improved decision making about suspected child maltreatment: Results of structuring the decision process," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 347-352.
    5. Storhaug, Anita Skårstad, 2023. "The decision-making ecology of child welfare emergency placements," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    6. van der Put, Claudia E. & Assink, Mark & Stams, Geert Jan J.M., 2016. "Predicting relapse of problematic child-rearing situations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 288-295.
    7. Jent, Jason F. & Merrick, Melissa T. & Dandes, Susan K. & Lambert, Walter F. & Haney, Mike L. & Cano, Nicole M., 2009. "Multidisciplinary assessment of child maltreatment: A multi-site pilot descriptive analysis of the Florida Child Protection Team model," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 896-902, August.
    8. Toros, Karmen & DiNitto, Diana Maria & Tiko, Anne, 2018. "Family engagement in the child welfare system: A scoping review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 598-607.
    9. Balsells, M. Ángeles & Fuentes-Peláez, Nuria & Pastor, Crescencia, 2017. "Listening to the voices of children in decision-making: A challenge for the child protection system in Spain," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 418-425.
    10. Vischer, Anne-Fleur W.K. & Knorth, Erik J. & Grietens, Hans & Post, Wendy J., 2019. "To preserve or not to preserve: That is the question. Decision-making about family preservation among families in multi-problem situations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 441-450.
    11. Nouman, Hani & Enosh, Guy & Niselbaum-Atzur, Pnina, 2016. "The role of parental communication, child's wishes and child's gender in social workers' custody recommendations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 302-308.
    12. Allan, Heather & Harlaar, Nicole & Hollinshead, Dana & Drury, Ida & Merkel-Holguin, Lisa, 2017. "The impact of worker and agency characteristics on FGC referrals in child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 229-237.
    13. Vanderfaeillie, Johan & Van Holen, Frank & Verheyden, Camille & Van Puyenbroeck, Bert & Benbenishty, Rami, 2023. "Decision-making on out-of-home care: The case of Flanders," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    14. Hall, Martin T. & Walton, Matthew T. & Huebner, Ruth A. & Higgins, George E. & Kelmel, Aimee B. & Lorenz, Doug, 2021. "Sobriety treatment and recovery teams for families with co-occurring substance use and child maltreatment: A propensity score-matched evaluation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    15. Molina, A. & Palacios, J. & Jiménez-Morago, J.M., 2019. "Do more severe incidents lead to more drastic decisions? A study of professional child protection decision making in Spain," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    16. Stoddart, J.K. & Fallon, B. & Trocmé, N. & Fluke, J., 2018. "Substantiated Child Maltreatment: Which factors do workers focus on when making this critical decision?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-8.
    17. Darlington, Yvonne & Healy, Karen & Yellowlees, Josephine & Bosly, Fiona, 2012. "Parents' perceptions of their participation in mandated family group meetings," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 331-337.
    18. de Haan, Irene & Connolly, Marie, 2014. "Another Pandora's box? Some pros and cons of predictive risk modeling," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P1), pages 86-91.
    19. Davidson-Arad, Bilha & Kaznelson, Hagith, 2010. "Comparison of parents' and social workers' assessments of the quality of life of children at risk," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 711-719, May.
    20. Bolton, Annalese & Lennings, Chris, 2010. "Clinical opinions of structured risk assessments for forensic child protection: The development of a clinically relevant device," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1300-1310, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:32:y:2010:i:7:p:1020-1027. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.