Decision Making in Child Protective Services: A Risky Business?

The ability to provide life support to ill children who, not long ago, would have died despite medicine's best efforts challenges pediatricians and families to address profound moral questions. Our society has been divided about extending the life of some patients, especially newborns and older infants with severe disabilities. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports individualized decision making about life-sustaining medical treatment for all children, regardless of age. These decisions should be jointly made by physicians and parents, unless good reasons require invoking established child protective services to contravene parental authority. At this time, resource allocation (rationing) decisions about which children should receive intensive care resources should be made clear and explicit in public policy, rather than be made at the bedside.

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The Role of Supervisors in Developing Clinical Decision-Making Skills in Child Protective Services (CPS)

Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work ◽

10.1300/j394v04n03_07 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 4 (3-4) ◽

pp. 103-116 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Jenny L. Jones ◽

Gregory Washington ◽

Susan Steppe

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Clinical Decision Making ◽

Child Protective Services ◽

Clinical Decision ◽

Protective Services

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Decision-making in child protective services: Influences at multiple levels of the social ecology

Child Abuse & Neglect ◽

10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.02.005 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 70-82 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Sarah A. Font ◽

Kathryn Maguire-Jack

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Social Ecology ◽

Child Protective Services ◽

Protective Services ◽

The Social ◽

Multiple Levels

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Risk assessment and decision making in child protective services: Predictive risk modeling in context

Children and Youth Services Review ◽

10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.06.027 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 79 ◽

pp. 291-298 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Stephanie Cuccaro-Alamin ◽

Regan Foust ◽

Rhema Vaithianathan ◽

Emily Putnam-Hornstein

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Decision Making ◽

Child Protective Services ◽

Risk Modeling ◽

Protective Services ◽

Predictive Risk

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The Decision to Substantiate Allegations of Child Maltreatment

Decision-Making and Judgment in Child Welfare and Protection ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190059538.003.0008 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 173-193

Author(s):

Sarah A. Font ◽

Kathryn Maguire-Jack ◽

Rebecca Dillard

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Child Maltreatment ◽

Child Protective Services ◽

Objective Assessment ◽

The United States ◽

Family Characteristics ◽

Protective Services ◽

Vulnerable Children ◽

Representative Study ◽

Nationally Representative

In the United States, the Child Protective Services system is responsible for investigating and responding to allegations of child abuse and neglect. At the conclusion of an investigation, caseworkers are expected to decide whether allegations are “substantiated” (demonstrated to be true) or not. How that decision is made—and whether it reflects an objective assessment of the evidence available—is widely debated. This chapter first presents an overview of the decision-making process and the implications of decision-making for vulnerable children and families. Next, it describes how rates of substantiation vary across and within states. The authors then present data from a nationally representative study of child protective services investigations on the factors associated with the decision to substantiate child maltreatment. They find that agency characteristics are predictive of substantiation, net of child and family characteristics. Overall, the authors conclude that substantiation is unlikely to be a valid indicator of the incidence of child maltreatment, and they discuss possible strategies for improving the consistency and utility of the substantiation decision.

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