IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v3y2014i4p916-940d42546.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Current Debates on Variability in Child Welfare Decision-Making: A Selected Literature Review

Author

Listed:
  • Emily Keddell

    (Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, Aotearoa, New Zealand)

Abstract

This article considers selected drivers of decision variability in child welfare decision-making and explores current debates in relation to these drivers. Covering the related influences of national orientation, risk and responsibility, inequality and poverty, evidence-based practice, constructions of abuse and its causes, domestic violence and cognitive processes, it discusses the literature in regards to how each of these influences decision variability. It situates these debates in relation to the ethical issue of variability and the equity issues that variability raises. I propose that despite the ecological complexity that drives decision variability, that improving internal (within-country) decision consistency is still a valid goal. It may be that the use of annotated case examples, kind learning systems, and continued commitments to the social justice issues of inequality and individualisation can contribute to this goal.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:3:y:2014:i:4:p:916-940:d:42546
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/3/4/916/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/3/4/916/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kristen Shook Slack & Jane L. Holl & Bong Joo Lee & Marla McDaniel & Lisa Altenbernd & Amy Bush Stevens, 2003. "Child protective intervention in the context of welfare reform: The effects of work and welfare on maltreatment reports," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(4), pages 517-536.
    2. Unknown, 2014. "Media Coverage 2014," 2014: Ethics, Efficiency and Food Security: Feeding the 9 Billion, Well, 26-28 August 2014 225573, Crawford Fund.
    3. Fleck-Henderson, Ann, 2000. "Domestic violence in the child protection system: Seeing double," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 333-354, May.
    4. DePanfilis, Diane & Girvin, Heather, 2005. "Investigating child maltreatment in out-of-home care: Barriers to effective decision-making," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 353-374, April.
    5. Križ, Katrin & Skivenes, Marit, 2013. "Systemic differences in views on risk: A comparative case vignette study of risk assessment in England, Norway and the United States (California)," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 1862-1870.
    6. Christina Paxson & Jane Waldfogel, 2003. "Welfare reforms, family resources, and child maltreatment," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 85-113.
    7. Kriz, Katrin & Skivenes, Marit, 2011. "How child welfare workers view their work with racial and ethnic minority families: The United States in contrast to England and Norway," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1866-1874, October.
    8. Keddell, Emily, 2014. "Theorising the signs of safety approach to child protection social work: Positioning, codes and power," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P1), pages 70-77.
    9. Robin Hogarth, 2002. "Deciding analytically or trusting your intuition? The advantadges and disadvantadges of analytic and intuitive thought," Economics Working Papers 654, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    10. 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.
    11. Wells, Susan J. & Lyons, Peter & Doueck, Howard J. & Brown, C. Hendricks & Thomas, Judy, 2004. "Ecological factors and screening in child protective services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(10), pages 981-997, October.
    12. Friend, Colleen & Shlonsky, Aron & Lambert, Liz, 2008. "From evolving discourses to new practice approaches in domestic violence and child protective services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 689-698, June.
    13. Shlonsky, Aron & Wagner, Dennis, 2005. "The next step: Integrating actuarial risk assessment and clinical judgment into an evidence-based practice framework in CPS case management," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 409-427, April.
    14. Shu-Kun Lin, 2011. "Social Sciences and Sustainability," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-1, September.
    15. Banks, Duren & Hazen, Andrea L. & Coben, Jeffrey H. & Wang, Kathleen & Griffith, Janet D., 2009. "Collaboration between child welfare agencies and domestic violence service providers: Relationship with child welfare policies and practices for addressing domestic violence," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 497-505, May.
    16. Nico Trocmé & Alicia Kyte & Vandna Sinha & Barbara Fallon, 2014. "Urgent Protection versus Chronic Need: Clarifying the Dual Mandate of Child Welfare Services across Canada," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-16, August.
    17. Arruabarrena, Ignacia & De Paúl, Joaquín, 2012. "Improving accuracy and consistency in child maltreatment severity assessment in child protection services in Spain: New set of criteria to help caseworkers in substantiation decisions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 666-674.
    18. Gerald Cradock, 2014. "Who Owns Child Abuse?," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-17, November.
    19. 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.
    20. Peter H. Rossi & John Schuerman & Stephen Budde, 1999. "Understanding Decisions about Child Maltreatment," Evaluation Review, , vol. 23(6), pages 579-598, December.
    21. Munro, Eileen, 2005. "Improving practice: Child protection as a systems problem," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 375-391, April.
    22. Schwalbe, Craig S., 2008. "Strengthening the integration of actuarial risk assessment with clinical judgment in an evidence based practice framework," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 1458-1464, December.
    23. Moles, Kerry, 2008. "Bridging the divide between child welfare and domestic violence services: Deconstructing the change process," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 674-688, June.
    24. Kohl, Patricia L. & Barth, Richard P. & Hazen, Andrea L. & Landsverk, John A., 2005. "Child welfare as a gateway to domestic violence services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(11), pages 1203-1221, November.
    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. Emily Keddell, 2019. "Algorithmic Justice in Child Protection: Statistical Fairness, Social Justice and the Implications for Practice," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-22, October.
    2. 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.
    3. Navarro-Pérez, José-Javier & Samper, Paula & Sancho, Patricia & Georgieva, Sylvia & Carbonell, Ángela & Mestre, Maria-Vicenta, 2023. "Development and content validation of a comprehensive tool for assessing risk and protective factors in children and adolescents: The ACRAM," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    4. Keddell, Emily & Cleaver, Kerri & Fitzmaurice, Luke, 2021. "The perspectives of community-based practitioners on preventing baby removals : Addressing legitimate and illegitimate factors," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    5. Keddell, Emily & Davie, Gabrielle & Barson, Dave, 2019. "Child protection inequalities in Aotearoa New Zealand: Social gradient and the ‘inverse intervention law’," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Robichaud, Marie-Joëlle & Pullen Sansfaçon, Annie & Poirier, Marie-Andrée, 2020. "Decision making at substantiation in cases involving racialized families: Child protection workers’ perceptions of influential factors," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    7. O'Leary, Donna & Christie, Alistair & Perry, Ivan J. & Khashan, Ali S, 2024. "Determinants of receiving child protection and welfare services following initial assessment: A cross-sectional study from the Republic of Ireland," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    8. Alex James & Jeanette McLeod & Shaun Hendy & Kip Marks & Delia Rusu & Syen Nik & Michael J Plank, 2019. "Using family network data in child protection services," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-14, October.
    9. 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).
    10. Keddell, Emily & Hyslop, Ian, 2018. "Role type, risk perceptions and judgements in child welfare: A mixed methods vignette study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 130-139.

    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. Keddell, Emily & Hyslop, Ian, 2018. "Role type, risk perceptions and judgements in child welfare: A mixed methods vignette study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 130-139.
    2. Lawson, Jennifer, 2019. "Domestic violence as child maltreatment: Differential risks and outcomes among cases referred to child welfare agencies for domestic violence exposure," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 32-41.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Gambrill, Eileen D., 2005. "Decision making in child welfare: Errors and their context," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 347-352, April.
    6. 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).
    7. 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.
    8. Nikolova, K. & Postmus, J.L. & Buttner, C. & Bosk, E.A., 2020. "Working together to protect women and children from domestic violence: Factors influencing willingness to collaborate between organizations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    9. 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.
    10. Monahan, Emma Kahle, 2020. "Income instability and child maltreatment: Exploring associations and mechanisms," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    11. 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.
    12. Hazen, Andrea L. & Connelly, Cynthia D. & Edleson, Jeffrey L. & Kelleher, Kelly J. & Landverk, John A. & Coben, Jeffrey H. & Barth, Richard P. & McGeehan, Jennifer & Rolls, Jennifer A. & Nuszkowski, M, 2007. "Assessment of intimate partner violence by child welfare services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 490-500, April.
    13. Wells, Kathleen & Guo, Shenyang, 2006. "Welfare reform and child welfare outcomes: A multiple-cohort study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 941-960, August.
    14. Keddell, Emily & Colhoun, Sarah & Norris, Pauline & Willing, Esther, 2024. "The heuristic divergence between community reporters and child protection agencies: Negotiating risk amidst shifting sands," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    15. Beimers, David & Coulton, Claudia J., 2011. "Do employment and type of exit influence child maltreatment among families leaving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1112-1119, July.
    16. Simmel, Cassandra & Shpiegel, Svetlana, 2013. "Describing the context and nature of emotional maltreatment reports in children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 626-633.
    17. Fusco, Rachel A., 2013. "“It's hard enough to deal with all the abuse issues”: Child welfare workers' experiences with intimate partner violence on their caseloads," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 1946-1953.
    18. Font, Sarah A. & Berger, Lawrence M. & Slack, Kristen S., 2012. "Examining racial disproportionality in child protective services case decisions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 2188-2200.
    19. Friend, Colleen & Shlonsky, Aron & Lambert, Liz, 2008. "From evolving discourses to new practice approaches in domestic violence and child protective services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 689-698, June.
    20. 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.

    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:gam:jscscx:v:3:y:2014:i:4:p:916-940:d:42546. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.