Decision making in multi-agency child protection systems: An exploratory study

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Lynch ◽  
Kathleen Felton
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Protection Systems

Understanding and improving discretionary judgment and decision-making in child protection practice: Towards a whole-of-system policy evaluation

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-127
Author(s):  
David Hodgson ◽  
Lynelle Watts ◽  
Donna Chung
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Policy Evaluation ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Judgment And Decision Making ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Child Protection Services ◽  
Conceptual Argument ◽  
Protection Systems

Discretionary judgment is a necessary and desirable attribute of child protection practice and decision-making. Increasingly, approaches towards accountability in child protection services act to constrain the use of practitioner discretionary judgement through ever increasing layers of standardisation and technical-rational approaches to practice. This situation is at odds with the need for professionals to adaptively respond to practice environments that are characterised by uncertainty and complexity. At the same time, there are known weakness and problems that are reported in the decision-making literature, begging questions about how to best support and evaluate for effective and accountable discretion and decision-making across a whole system. In this paper discretion is conceptualised as a structural and epistemic phenomena that is constrained and restricted under the weight of standardisation. A five-part conceptual framework for a systems approach to policy evaluation is presented, and it is argued that this framework would support the capacity for effective discretionary judgement and decision-making to emerge as a property of the system overall. This paper is a theoretical and conceptual argument for a systemic policy evaluation framework that is supportive of discretionary judgment and decision-making in child protection systems shifting the emphasis away from technical-rational compliance.

Children’s Participation in Decision Making From Child Welfare Workers’ Perspectives: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973152098484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karmen Toros
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Child Welfare Workers ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Participation In Decision Making ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Welfare Workers

This article explores child welfare workers’ experiences of children’s participation in decision making in the child protection system. The systematic review follows the principles of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement and includes 12 peer-reviewed articles published in academic journals from 2009 to 2019. Findings indicate that children’s participation in decision making is generally limited or nonexistent. The age of the child is an important determining factor concerning whether the child is given the opportunity to participate in decision making. Potential harm for children that may result from participation is considered when deciding on whether to include a child in the decision-making process.

scholarly journals An Exploratory Study of Research Data Governance in the U.S.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-142
Author(s):  
Inna Kouper ◽  
Anjanette H Raymond ◽  
Stacey Giroux
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
Data Governance ◽  
Knowledge Commons ◽  
Multiple Voices ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Commons ◽  
The U.S

AbstractMaking decisions regarding data and the overall credibility of research constitutes research data governance. In this paper, we present results of an exploratory study of the stakeholders of research data governance. The study was conducted among individuals who work in academic and research institutions in the US, with the goal of understanding what entities are perceived as making decisions regarding data and who researchers believe should be responsible for governing research data. Our results show that there is considerable diversity and complexity across stakeholders, both in terms of who they are and their ideas about data governance. To account for this diversity, we propose to frame research data governance in the context of polycentric governance of a knowledge commons. We argue that approaching research data from the commons perspective will allow for a governance framework that can balance the goals of science and society, allow us to shift the discussion toward protection from enclosure and knowledge resilience, and help to ensure that multiple voices are included in all levels of decision-making.

Maltreatment Type Classifications and Transitions During Childhood for a California Birth Cohort

2021 ◽  
pp. 107755952110067
Author(s):  
John Prindle ◽  
Regan Foust ◽  
Emily Putnam-Hornstein
Keyword(s):  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
Latent Transition Analysis ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Transition Analysis ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Protection Systems ◽  
Maltreatment Type

Childhood maltreatment involves dynamics between the type of maltreatment experienced and the context of maltreatment. Reports of alleged maltreatment to child protective services may overlap and shift over time, complicating understanding of their independent and interacting nature, including how child protection systems respond. Latent class analysis (LCA) and latent transition analysis (LTA) were used to construct data-based models of longitudinal dynamics of alleged maltreatment throughout childhood. We sought to identify patterns leading to system decisions to substantiate allegations of maltreatment and place children in foster care. Using linked birth and child protection records, we defined a cohort of children born in California in 1999, 29.4% of whom had at least one referral for alleged maltreatment before their 18th birthday. Maltreatment and perpetrator indicators were coded, and LCA identified five alleged maltreatment classes and one class of children without referrals. LTA determined consistency of classifications and estimated transitions between classes over age periods. Children with multitype maltreatment patterns or experiences of neglect were most likely to experience future maltreatment allegations. Estimated probabilities of placement indicated children with Multitype Maltreatment allegations were more likely to experience substantiated maltreatment allegations and out-of-home placements. Findings identify a repeatable method for better understanding complex systems.

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