Decision-making in child protection: what is decided at the various services and levels of intervention?

AIM This study aims to analyse variability in decision-making on child protection at the different services and levels of intervention by competent authorities in this field in the Basque Autonomous Community. Variability is... [ view full abstract ]

AIM
This study aims to analyse variability in decision-making on child protection at the different services and levels of intervention by competent authorities in this field in the Basque Autonomous Community. Variability is specifically examined in one of the most relevant decisions concerning intervention with children at severe risk: maintain the child at their home or raise the possibility of foster care intervention.
The autonomous communities are the competent authorities for the Spanish child and adolescent protection system and divide these tasks between the different public administrations that operate in each region. In the case of the Basque Autonomous Community, children at low or moderate risk are assisted by the community social services while cases of severe risk are dealt with through regional authorities. There are also private entities that run community and specialised family preservation programmes or residential care. Due to the diversity of agents involved, we consider that variability in practitioners' decision-making may depend on the workplace and the intervention level.
METHOD
A questionnaire was used including both organisational characteristics and a vignette designed by Davidson-Arad and Benbenishty (2008) in which practitioners had to choose between family preservation or foster care intervention. 204 responses were received from an estimated universe of 712, which guarantees a sample reliability level of 91%. The XL-STAT programme was used to run Chi square tests to analyse the statistically significant differences between the various services and intervention levels.
RESULTS
The findings show that statistically significant differences exist according to the service where the practitioners work (p value 0.000) as well as the intervention level (p value 0.0001). As regards the services, community social services are the ones that most choose the family preservation option, followed by other community services, community family intervention programmes, practitioners from Children's Services at the regional level and specialised family preservation programmes. The findings also show that the pattern follow by practitioners in residential care services is just the opposite: over half choose foster care intervention. According to the intervention level, practitioners in community care services are the ones that most choose family preservation, followed by specialised care and residential care services.
CONCLUSIONS
Variability in child protection decisions is related to organisational factors. Particular objectives and tasks of each service and intervention level determine the recommended intervention. Services operating at the community level are particularly focused on keeping people in their familiar environment whereas specialised services are mainly in charge of offering alternative residence when the family environment is not suitable. These different visions on intervention alternatives may have a direct impact on the practitioner´s decisions and may explain the variability between them.