Development of an instrument to understand the child protective services decision-making process, with a focus on placement decisions.
When children come to the attention of the child welfare system, they become involved in a decision-making process in which decisions are made that have a significant effect on their future and well-being. The decision to remove children from their families is particularly complex; yet surprisingly little is understood about this decision-making process. This paper presents the results of a study to develop an instrument to explore, at the caseworker level, the context of the removal decision, with the objective of understanding the influence of the individual and organizational factors on this decision, drawing from the Decision Making Ecology as the underlying rationale for obtaining the measures. The instrument was based on the development of decision-making scales used in prior decision-making studies and administered to child protection caseworkers in several states. Analyses included reliability analyses, principal components analyses, and inter-correlations among the resulting scales. For one scale regarding removal decisions, a principal components analysis resulted in the extraction of two components, jointly identified as caseworkers' decision-making orientation, described as (1) an internal reference to decision-making and (2) an external reference to decision-making. Reliability analyses demonstrated acceptable to high internal consistency for 9 of the 11 scales. Full details of the reliability analyses, principal components analyses, and inter-correlations among the seven scales are discussed, along with implications for practice and the utility of this instrument to support the understanding of decision-making in child welfare.
Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
Alan J
AJ
Dettlaff
Department of Health Sciences Administration, University of Washington, 1107 NE 45th St., Suite 120, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.
J
J
Christopher Graham
Department of Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 4112 Behavioral Sciences Building, Chicago, IL 60607, USA.
Jesse
J
Holzman
New College, Saint Edwards University, 3001 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704, USA.
Donald J
DJ
Baumann
Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, The Gary Pavilion at Children's Hospital Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, 13123 East 16th Avenue, B390, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
John D
JD
Fluke
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000517:prevention & control; D000068216:Child Protective Services / Q000379:methods*; D002669:Child Welfare; D003657:Decision Making; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D005260:Female; D005581:Foster Home Care; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D000068217:Social Workers; D013781:Texas; D055815:Young Adult
Child protection; Child welfare; Decision-making; Foster care; Instrument; Survey