Understanding decisions about child maltreatment.

Eval Rev

Social and Demographic Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA.

Published: December 1999

To understand how decisions are made in abuse/neglect cases by the child welfare system, the authors asked child welfare experts and protective service line workers to make decisions about actual child abuse and neglect cases on the basis of written summaries of the cases. Respondents included 27 experts and 103 line workers. Regression analyses found that workers and experts emphasized the same case characteristics in making their decisions, but the decisions were not well structured in the sense that they were not well predicted by case characteristics. Individual experts and workers varied widely in the decisions they made on identical cases. The authors conclude that decision making in the child protective system is inconsistent, with errors of two kinds: failing to remove children from their families when that is called for and removing children when it is unnecessary. Progress must be made in developing decision-making criteria that are consistent, preserve family integrity, and promote the well-being of children.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0193841X9902300601DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

child welfare
8
case characteristics
8
child
5
decisions
5
understanding decisions
4
decisions child
4
child maltreatment
4
maltreatment understand
4
understand decisions
4
decisions abuse/neglect
4

Similar Publications

Background: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) introduced in childhood national immunization programs lowered vaccine-type invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), but replacement with non-vaccine-types persisted throughout the PCV10/13 follow-up period. We assessed PCV10/13 impact on pneumococcal meningitis incidence globally.

Methods: The number of cases with serotyped pneumococci detected in cerebrospinal fluid and population denominators were obtained from surveillance sites globally.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Educational gaps between care leavers and their same-age peers not in care are well documented. However, little is known about gender disparities in educational outcomes between care leavers and their matched peers.

Objectives: To examine and predict secondary school educational attainments (EA) and enrollment in postsecondary education (PSE) by (1) study group: care leavers versus their matched peers, (2) gender: men versus women, (3) interaction between study group and gender.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The effects of unconditional cash transfers on child abuse and neglect in early childhood: Evidence from New Zealand.

Child Abuse Negl

January 2025

Centre of Methods and Policy Applications in the Social Sciences (COMPASS), The School of Social Sciences, University of Auckland, 1010, New Zealand.

Background: Child abuse and neglect is recorded at higher rates in families with low incomes, and in contexts with lower public spending on families. However, it is not clear whether modest cash transfers could reduce rates.

Objective: To estimate the effects of unconditional cash transfers to mothers with children under 3 years of age on child abuse and neglect.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Uzbekistan, a highly endemic country for hepatitis B virus (HBV), introduced infant vaccination with hepatitis B vaccine (HepB) in 2001. Since 2002, it had ≥90 % reported immunization coverage for ≥3 doses of HepB (HepB3) and the birth dose (HepB-BD). However, the impact of HepB vaccination and the progress towards achieving the regional hepatitis B control and global viral hepatitis B elimination goals had not been assessed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background/objectives: The DNA methylation of neonatal cord blood can be used to accurately estimate gestational age. This is known as epigenetic gestational age. The greater the difference between epigenetic and chronological gestational age, the greater the association with an inappropriate perinatal fetal environment and development.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!