Child Welfare Decision Making in Context Part 2 - In the best interest of the child: A comparative study between students and professionals' decision-making process in the child protection system
Vânia S. Pinto
InED, REES Centre, Department of Education, University of Oxford
Degree in Psychological Sciences and a Master degree in Clinical Psychology, at ISPA - University Institute, in Portugal. Postgraduate programmes on “Protection of Minors”, at the Faculty of Law - University of Coimbra, and on “Data Analysis in the Social Science”, in ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon, both in Portugal. DPhil Candidate in Education at the Rees Centre, Department of Education, University of Oxford, with research in the field of placement success. Collaborator researcher at InEd-Center for Research and Innovation in Education, School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto. Main areas of research: child protection systems, foster care, indicators of placement success.
Abstract
In comparison with other European countries, Portugal is one of the countries that least removes children and young people from their biological family, however when the removal takes place most of the children and young... [ view full abstract ]
In comparison with other European countries, Portugal is one of the countries that least removes children and young people from their biological family, however when the removal takes place most of the children and young people are placed in residential care, rather than in foster care. Understanding that the decision-making process is crucial in this field, this research aims to analyse the factors that influence the assessments and removal decisions in child protection system cases. Moreover, it is aimed to analyse the influence of personals’ attitudes and the mother’s wishes in this process.
Following the research design of Davidson-Arad and Benbenishty (2016), this study compares higher education students and professionals of the child protection system, to explore if the professional practice is associated to differences in their attitudes, assessments and decisions. Based on a case vignette of alleged child maltreatment, and using two different versions, a total of 200 students and 200 professionals from the main regions of Portugal filled out a set of questionnaires.
It can be pointed out that both students and professionals could be divided in two sub-groups, one more anti-removal and other more pro-removal. More students were anti-removal, whereas more professionals were pro-removal. In comparison, the students’ group assessed as existing a lower occurrence of emotional and physical neglect and abuse, a lower risk of emotional harm, and decided for more conservative intervention. The mother’s concordance or not with the removal of the child didn’t have a statistical significant impact in the participants’ assessments and decisions.
We can conclude that only professional practice is associated to differences in their attitudes, assessments and decisions. These findings will be discussed considering the implications for practice.
Key-Words: Children protection systems; Risk assessment; Decision-making process
Authors
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Vânia S. Pinto
(InED, REES Centre, Department of Education, University of Oxford)
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João Carvalho
(UMinho, InED, UNICES-Instituto Universitário da Maia)
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Paulo Delgado
(InED, Escola Superior de Educação do Porto / CIEC, Universidade do Minho)
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John Fluke
(Kempe Center, University of Colorado School of Medicine)
Topic Area
Other
Session
Symposia19 » Session 3-Child Protection Systems (16:15 - Tuesday, 3rd October, Europe 2 Room)
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