Reunification in foster care: Influences on decision-making

This constructed narrative inquiry illustrates confluent stories of a young mother, Jenny, charged with child abuse and neglect; her foster care case worker, Rachel; and her therapist, Kathleen. As researchers, we discuss the positions of each person: mother, caseworker, therapist through storied fragments representing what is most important in how they came to understand the process of their year-long work together that led to Jenny's releasing her parental rights. Layering interviews and reflexive writings, we focus on decision-making and voice; about what it means to be a parent, a foster care worker, and a therapist in a community context where parent benefit from services and the child's best interest is a privileged societal discourse.

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Can Stability in Out-of-Home Care Be Improved? An Analysis of Unplanned and Planned Placement Changes in Foster Care

Children Australia ◽

10.1375/jcas.36.2.74 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 36 (2) ◽

pp. 74-80 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Susan Tregeagle ◽

Rosemary Hamill

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Foster Care ◽

Social Workers ◽

Long Term Care ◽

Family Care ◽

Term Care ◽

Out Of Home Care ◽

Placement Change ◽

Initial Entry

This article presents the findings of a study of unplanned and planned placement changes in foster care programs designed for restoration or time-limited assessment for long-term care. In this study, the causes of placement changes in the program are analysed to assess whether stability could be improved. The study was undertaken by examining computer records of placement changes over a 6-year period, in five Temporary Family Care (TFC) programs. Once these changes were identified, social workers were asked to describe the circumstances of the placement change for each named child. These were then categorised into two groups: unplanned and planned placement changes. Unplanned changes are those that were not anticipated at initial entry to care, nor during scheduled case reviews. The frequency of unplanned changes was 2% of all placements; within this group of unplanned changes no child had more than two unplanned moves and only 0.6% of children had two unplanned changes. Planned placement changes were those changes considered as part of routine case decision-making according to the requirements of the ‘Looking After Children’ (LAC) system. These changes occurred in 4.5% of all planned placements. Some children experienced both planned and unplanned changes. The changes were then categorised according to the reasons for change. Some placement changes appeared unavoidable. This finding leads to questions about whether instability can ever be entirely eliminated. The TFC programs appear to have a lower rate of breakdown than that reported in the literature; however, variations in study design make comparisons difficult.

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Expediting permanent placement from foster care systems: The role of family group decision-making

Children and Youth Services Review ◽

10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.01.015 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 34 (4) ◽

pp. 845-850 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Eugene W. Wang ◽

Matthew C. Lambert ◽

Leah E. Johnson ◽

Brock Boudreau ◽

Rebecca Breidenbach ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Foster Care ◽

Group Decision Making ◽

Group Decision ◽

Family Group ◽

Care Systems

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Every Adolescent Deserves a Parent

10.31228/osf.io/pxe47 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Dale Margolin Cecka

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Foster Care ◽

Child Welfare ◽

Young Person ◽

Human Beings ◽

Foster Child ◽

Foster Care System ◽

The Past ◽

Child Welfare Professionals ◽

Decision Making Processes

This article argues that all adolescents, indeed all human beings, deserve at least one parent�one person who takes the good with the bad because that person�s life is intertwined with the child�s. The child matters to the parent in a way that a friend, nephew, or foster child may not. Child welfare professionals must never lose sight of this principle when they recruit, train, and maintain parents for adolescents. The parent can be someone who is already in the young person�s life or someone who has been unable to parent in the past, but is now ready to secure that bond. True parents are attainable for teenagers in foster care as long as child welfare professionals remember what they are looking for and are steadfast and creative in their efforts to find and nurture these relationships. Section Two of this article details the issues that adolescents face when they age out 5 of the foster care system. Next, Section Three discusses the obstacles adolescents face in attaining familial permanency. Section Four examines the aspects of successful adoptions, including the recruitment and decision making processes, in an effort to apply those principals to developing and maintaining adolescent permanency. Finally, Section Five concludes with the keys to successful adolescent permanency.

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Attitudes and decision-making in the child protection system

Kriminologija & socijalna integracija ◽

10.31299/ksi.25.2.1 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 2-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Paulo Delgado ◽

Vânia S. Pinto ◽

João M. S. Carvalho

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Foster Care ◽

Residential Care ◽

Family Environment ◽

Child Protection ◽

Well Being ◽

Fundamental Rights ◽

Protection System ◽

Decision Making Process ◽

Rights Of The Child

In the contexts of family neglect or maltreatment, the State intervenes by safeguarding the development and well-being of the child or young person in danger. In more severe situations, the intervention may lead to the child’s removal from the family. The Portuguese Law on the Protection of Children and Young People in Danger (Law 142/2015 of September 8th) favours the placement of the child in a family environment, especially for children up to the age of six. Despite this, in Portugal, in 2015, 8 600 children were in out-of-home care, only 3.5% of which were placed in foster care, while the remaining children were in residential care. Therefore, one of the fundamental rights of the child – living in a family environment – is compromised in practice. This study aims to understand the decision-making process of 200 higher education students in domains related to child protection, and those of 200 professionals who are responsible for providing case assessments and recommendations for intervention in the Portuguese child protection system. Using the Child Welfare Attitudes Questionnaire (Davidson-Arad & Benbenishty, 2008, 2010), the study aimed to identify the participants’ attitudes regarding removal of at-risk children from home, reunification and optimal duration of alternative care, children’s and parents’ participation in the decision-making process, and assessment of foster care and residential care, with the purpose of promoting children’s development and well-being. We concluded that both sets of participants (professionals and students) can be divided in two groups, one which is pro-removal and the other, which is less so. In comparison with students, professionals less often favour the removal of the child and more often defend reunification. There are no significant differences among participants regarding their opinion about the role of foster and residential care, and the participation of the child in the decision-making process. However, professionals tend to support parents’ participation in the decision-making process more than students do. Finally, we present some implications of our findings for the practice of child protection.

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Decision-making in foster care: A view on the dynamic and collective nature of the process

Journal of Social Work ◽

10.1177/1468017320928825 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 146801732092882

Author(s):

Doris Chateauneuf ◽

Marie-Andrée Poirier ◽

Geneviève Pagé

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Foster Care ◽

Child Welfare ◽

Social Workers ◽

Social Worker ◽

Child Welfare Services ◽

Foster Family ◽

Her Family ◽

Welfare Services ◽

The Social

Summary Placement in a foster family by child welfare services is a crucial decision in the trajectory of a child. Nevertheless, the strategies and procedures underlying the decision to remove a child from his/her family for placement in foster care remain little studied. Based on 39 semi-directed individual interviews with social workers from child welfare services, the current study aims at highlighting how social workers come to the decision to remove a child from parental care, and how they choose a foster family. Findings The thematic analysis of the qualitative data collected reveals that four main components were raised by social workers to explain how they make their decisions regarding placement and what are the considerations associated with this process: (1) Professional consensus and collaboration, (2) Clinical and legal guidelines, (3) Risk assessment and clinical judgment, and (4) Personality and values of the social worker. The results of this study show that decisions surrounding the removal of a child from his/her family and the choice of a foster family are the result of multiples factors and strategies involving the social worker and other collaborating professionals, as well as their legal and administrative context. Application The findings suggest that additional efforts could be made in child protection organizations and agencies in order to develop supportive measures that take into account the collective and interactional aspect of the decision-making process regarding placement in foster care.

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Decision Making in Child Protection: Making Sense of Risk and Uncertainty - The Decision-Making Ecology of Placing a Child Into Foster Care: A Structural Equation Model

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e500792015-346 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

J. Chris Graham ◽

John Fluke

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Foster Care ◽

Structural Equation Model ◽

Child Protection ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Equation Model ◽

Risk And Uncertainty ◽

Making Sense

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The decision sampling framework: a methodological approach to investigate evidence use in policy and programmatic innovation

Implementation Science ◽

10.1186/s13012-021-01084-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Thomas I. Mackie ◽

Ana J. Schaefer ◽

Justeen K. Hyde ◽

Laurel K. Leslie ◽

Emily A. Bosk ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Foster Care ◽

Decision Analysis ◽

Research Evidence ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Qualitative Inquiry ◽

Decision Making Process ◽

Illustrative Case ◽

Evidence Use

Abstract Background Calls have been made for greater application of the decision sciences to investigate and improve use of research evidence in mental health policy and practice. This article proposes a novel method, “decision sampling,” to improve the study of decision-making and research evidence use in policy and programmatic innovation. An illustrative case study applies the decision sampling framework to investigate the decisions made by mid-level administrators when developing system-wide interventions to identify and treat the trauma of children entering foster care. Methods Decision sampling grounds qualitative inquiry in decision analysis to elicit information about the decision-making process. Our case study engaged mid-level managers in public sector agencies (n = 32) from 12 states, anchoring responses on a recent index decision regarding universal trauma screening for children entering foster care. Qualitative semi-structured interviews inquired on questions aligned with key components of decision analysis, systematically collecting information on the index decisions, choices considered, information synthesized, expertise accessed, and ultimately the values expressed when selecting among available alternatives. Results Findings resulted in identification of a case-specific decision set, gaps in available evidence across the decision set, and an understanding of the values that guided decision-making. Specifically, respondents described 14 inter-related decision points summarized in five domains for adoption of universal trauma screening protocols, including (1) reach of the screening protocol, (2) content of the screening tool, (3) threshold for referral, (4) resources for screening startup and sustainment, and (5) system capacity to respond to identified needs. Respondents engaged a continuum of information that ranged from anecdote to research evidence, synthesizing multiple types of knowledge with their expertise. Policy, clinical, and delivery system experts were consulted to help address gaps in available information, prioritize specific information, and assess “fit to context.” The role of values was revealed as participants evaluated potential trade-offs and selected among policy alternatives. Conclusions The decision sampling framework is a novel methodological approach to investigate the decision-making process and ultimately aims to inform the development of future dissemination and implementation strategies by identifying the evidence gaps and values expressed by the decision-makers, themselves.

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