IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v107y2019ics0190740919306012.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do more severe incidents lead to more drastic decisions? A study of professional child protection decision making in Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Molina, A.
  • Palacios, J.
  • Jiménez-Morago, J.M.

Abstract

In the field of child protection, decision-making is a very complex task involving professionals with distinct qualifications, working in diverse sectors of the system (from social services to the courts) and incidents that vary in the type and seriousness of suspected maltreatment. Decisions made at the various levels of the child protection system encounter frequent disagreements. In an attempt to better understand differences in the assessment of suspected child maltreatment and the protection measure taken, and using vignettes involving neglect, physical and sexual abuse, four professional sectors that are typically involved in child protection cases in Spain were analyzed: local social services, emergency residential units, specialized child protection professionals and judges. The sample was comprised of 84 professionals. The results showed that the correlation between the severity of the assessment and the intensity of the action taken was significant, but only moderate. The reason may lay in the differences between the various professional sectors (more than in the professionals’ qualifications) and in the scant use, in the decision making process, of the available professional tools, such as checklists of indicators and professional protocols.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:107:y:2019:i:c:s0190740919306012
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104547
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740919306012
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104547?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Nouwen, Eva & Decuyper, Stefan & Put, Johan, 2012. "Team decision making in child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 2101-2116.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Munro, Eileen, 2005. "Improving practice: Child protection as a systems problem," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 375-391, April.
    7. Sullivan, Catherine & Whitehead, Paul C. & Leschied, Alan W. & Chiodo, Debbie & Hurley, Dermot, 2008. "Perception of risk among child protection workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 699-704, July.
    8. John Schuerman & Peter H. Rossi & Stephen Budde, 1999. "Decisions on Placement and Family Preservation," Evaluation Review, , vol. 23(6), pages 599-618, December.
    9. Victor Grimaldi & Javier Pérez-Padilla & Miguel Ángel Garrido & Bárbara Lorence, 2019. "Assessment and Decision-Making in Child Protective Services: Risk Situations Kept-at-Home Versus Out-of-Home Care," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(5), pages 1611-1628, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Victor Grimaldi & Javier Pérez-Padilla & Miguel Ángel Garrido & Bárbara Lorence, 2019. "Assessment and Decision-Making in Child Protective Services: Risk Situations Kept-at-Home Versus Out-of-Home Care," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(5), pages 1611-1628, October.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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).
    9. 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.
    10. Meiksans, Jenna & Iannos, Marie & Arney, Fiona, 2015. "Factors influencing decision making about the placement of children in care: Development of the Child Placement Questionnaire," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 71-83.
    11. 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.
    12. Vanschoonlandt, Femke & Vanderfaeillie, Johan & Van Holen, Frank & De Maeyer, Skrällan & Robberechts, Marijke, 2013. "Externalizing problems in young foster children: Prevalence rates, predictors and service use," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 716-724.
    13. Stevens, Sonya & Fiene, Richard & Blevins, Daniel & Salzer, Amber, 2020. "Identifying predictive indicators: The state of Washington foster care home study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    14. 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).
    15. Font, Sarah A., 2015. "Are children safer with kin? A comparison of maltreatment risk in out-of-home care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 20-29.
    16. Maria Manuela Calheiros & Sandra Ornelas & Eunice Magalhães & Margarida Vaz Garrido, 2022. "Profiles of Young Children Involved with Child Protection Services in Portugal," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(3), pages 933-958, June.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. Kruzich, Jean M. & Mienko, Joseph A. & Courtney, Mark E., 2014. "Individual and work group influences on turnover intention among public child welfare workers: The effects of work group psychological safety," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 20-27.

    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:107:y:2019:i:c:s0190740919306012. 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.