Adoption in the child welfare system — A cross-country analysis of child welfare workers' recommendations for or against adoption

Child welfare workers aim to promote the well-being and safety of children and are the link between the child welfare system and families. Families served by the child welfare system should expect similar service based on clinical factors, not based on their caseworker’s characteristics. Using secondary data analyses of the most recent Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2008) and multilevel modeling, this study examines whether child welfare worker characteristics, such as education level and field, age, and experience predict their perception of the risk of future maltreatment. A total of 1729 case-level investigations and 419 child welfare workers were included in this study. Several one-level logistic regression and two-level logistic regression analyses were run. The best-fit model suggests that caseworkers with a Master’s degree, more than 2 years of experience, and more than 18 cases were significantly more likely to perceive risk of future maltreatment. Further, the interaction between degree level and age also significantly predicted the perception of risk of future maltreatment. Results suggest that the perception of risk of future maltreatment may be influenced by caseworker factors, thus service to families may differ based on caseworker characteristics.

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Understanding the overrepresentation of Black children in Ontario's child welfare system: Perspectives from child welfare workers and community service providers

Child Abuse & Neglect ◽

10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105425 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 123 ◽

pp. 105425

Author(s):

Kofi Antwi-Boasiako ◽

Barbara Fallon ◽

Bryn King ◽

Nico Trocmé ◽

John Fluke

Keyword(s):

Child Welfare ◽

Community Service ◽

Service Providers ◽

Black Children ◽

Child Welfare System ◽

Welfare System ◽

Child Welfare Workers ◽

Welfare Workers

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“Act Like my Friend”

Canadian Social Work Review ◽

10.7202/1038697ar ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 161-177 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Judy Hughes ◽

Shirley Chau ◽

Cathy Rocke

Keyword(s):

Child Welfare ◽

Best Practice ◽

Qualitative Interview ◽

Child Welfare System ◽

Welfare System ◽

Child Welfare Workers ◽

Canadian Child ◽

Children First ◽

Welfare Workers ◽

Practice Literature

Through a final qualitative interview question, we asked mothers who were involved with the Canadian child welfare system to provide recommendations to improve practices in this system. Through their responses, these women focused on the relationships between parents and workers. Surprisingly, they stated that child welfare workers should “act like friends.” In these descriptions, they stated that child welfare workers should be respectful, honest, caring, supportive, non-judgmental, and encouraging. They further stated that workers should have empathy and provide concrete supports so that parents maintain connections to their children. First, we present the mothers’ recommendations. Then, we situate these findings into best practice literature and discuss both the possibilities and challenges of developing stronger relationships between parents and child welfare workers.

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