Ecological models on decision-making in child protection determine how many different factors influence that process, starting with case-specific characteristics, organizational factors, and external factors, as well as decision-maker factors. However, how that psychosocial process occurs, how the decision-maker integrates those multiple factors from the decision-making ecology, is still empirically unclear. This chapter, first, reviews the state of the art in the study of caseworkers’ psychosocial process underlying the out-of-home placement decision. It summarizes cues from empirical studies sustaining the role played by caseworkers’ attitudes, social values, social norms, experience, emotions in out-of-home placement decisions. The authors, then, describe social psychology decision-making models and present the principal results of an empirically tested model of residential-care placement decision-making that, based on a dual version of the theory of planned behavior model, integrates those multiple psychosocial factors into the decision process. A structural equation modeling analysis revealed that the caseworker’s motivation (intention) to propose a residential care placement decision of a neglected child is highly explained by a positive evaluation of that behavior (Attitude), but also by significant others’ approval of that behavior (Subjective Norm) and by how much relevance the worker attributes to child’s interests and protection (Value of Child). Both theoretical and social policy implications are discussed.
Decision Making in Dutch Child Welfare: Child's Wishes about Reunification after Out-of-Home Placement: Table 1
