Understanding decisions about child maltreatment

To understand how decisions are made in abuse/neglect cases by the child we lfare system, the authors asked child welfare experts and protective servic e line workers to make decisions about actual child abuse and neglect cases on the basis of written summaries oft he cases. Respondents included 27 ex perts and 103 line workers. Regression analyses found that workers and expe rts emphasised the same case characteristics in making their decisions, but the decisions were not well structured in the sense that they were not wel l 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 e rrors of two kinds: failing to remove children from their families when tha t is called for and removing children when it is unnecessary. Progress must be made in developing decision-making criteria that are consistent, preser ve family integrity, and promote the well-being of children.