Abstract

Assessing and responding to risks to children’s safety is a primary concern of the child protection system (CPS), and decision-support tools have been developed to assist child welfare workers (CWW). Yet, a limited understanding of CWWs’ decision-making experiences impedes our efforts to effectively support them. This qualitative study examines the unique characteristics of decision-making in CPS through focus groups involving CWWs from an agency in California. Five themes emerged: CWWs’ responsibilities, decision-making characteristics, domain-specific complexities, and CWWs’ perspectives on fairness in decision-making. The findings highlight the need to incorporate CWWs’ experiences and insights in developing future decision-support tools.

Metadata

publication

Journal of Public Child Welfare, 1-24, 2024

year

2024

publication date

2025/1/1

authors

Eunhye Ahn, Fred Morstatter, Debra Waters-Roman, Lindsey Palmer, Jacquelyn McCroskey

link

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15548732.2024.2312846

journal

Journal of Public Child Welfare

volume

19

issue

1

pages

229-252

publisher

Routledge