Which Factors in a Child Welfare Worker's Environment Influence Their Decision-Making About Neglect? A Systematic Narrative Literature Review.

This paper systematically reviews literature to date about how child welfare workers' decisions about neglect are influenced by their environments. We conducted a systematic search of Web of Science, Embase, PsycInfo, Scopus, and Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts, looking for studies in English of any methodology, published since the 1989 Children Act, in which statutory thresholds in England are defined. We used child welfare workers' definitions of neglect or, in the absence of this, defined "neglect" as harmful acts of omission by a caregiver (failure to do something necessary for a child's well-being).