A preview of this full-text is provided by Springer Nature.
Content available from International Journal on Child Maltreatment
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
Vol.:(0123456789)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42448-021-00083-9
1 3
ORIGINAL PAPER
Associations Between Case, Staff, andAgency
Characteristics andtheDecision toPlace aChild
inOut‑of‑Home Care
DanaHollinshead1 · DustinCurrie1· KlaudiaKroll2· SaraWolfFeldman3·
KerryMonahan‑Price3· JohnFluke1
Accepted: 12 July 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Abstract
Typically, when children are placed into out-of-home care due to child maltreatment
concerns, people assume that this decision is based on action or inaction on behalf
of the child’s caregivers. While such elements are likely the main drivers of the
decision, a growing body of research suggests that other factors contribute to case-
workers’ decisions on the child welfare cases they serve. Drawing from the decision-
making ecology (DME), this study examines the extent to which caseworker and
organizational factors, in addition to case characteristics, play a role in decisions to
remove a child from their home. Survey data from 118 investigation or assessment
workers in a southeastern state were paired with administrative data from 10,568
child protective services (CPS) responses assigned to the surveyed workers for
analysis. Multi-level modeling (cases, and cases within workers) results identified
that, controlling for case characteristics and using 95% confidence intervals, workers
who were male (aOR: 0.71 [0.50–0.998]), perceived the agency as more supportive
(aOR: 0.87 [0.80–0.94]), and those indicating a strong orientation towards family
preservation compared to child safety (aOR: 0.58 [0.42–0.81]) were associated with
lower odds of placing children into out-of-home care. Staff who felt more cohesion
with their co-workers (aOR: 1.37 [1.19–1.57]) were more likely to place children on
their caseloads. These results indicate that the current system of decision-making
and case trajectories are prone to influences from caseworkers’ personal biases and
perceptions of support. Implications for CPS workforce selection, development, sup-
port, and case assignment are discussed.
Keywords Child welfare· Child protective services· Workforce· Decision-making·
Out-of-home care· Biases
* Dana Hollinshead
dana.hollinshead@cuanschutz.edu
Extended author information available on the last page of the article
Int. Journal on Child Malt. (2021) 4:325–347
/Published online: 3 August 2021
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.