A Multilevel Examination of Whether Child Welfare Worker Characteristics Predict the Substantiation Decision in Canada
Date
2022
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Publisher
Journal of interpersonal violence
Abstract
The decision to substantiate a report of child maltreatment represents a
key decision point in the child welfare service decision-making continuum.
This decision has various potential implications for children and their
families, which may include more intensive child welfare involvement or
the cessation of services. The substantiation decision is determined by
whether there is enough evidence to suggest that maltreatment or the risk
of maltreatment has occurred. To date, there has been minimal exploration
of whether child welfare worker characteristics might influence this critical
decision point. The Decision-Making Ecology would suggest that indeed,
worker characteristics play a role in how they carry out their role. Given the
importance of this decision point, this study uses secondary data to examine
whether worker characteristics, such as education level and type, ethnoracial
identity, caseload, and experience, predict substantiation in the Canadian
child welfare context. Furthermore, this study utilizes multilevel modeling,
a theoretically important and unique method of analyzing organizational data that considers differences in decisions among child welfare workers.
The final model included 4,327 children and 567 workers from across
Canada. Several case level factors (e.g., child age and functioning, caregiver
risk factors) predicted the substantiation decision. Furthermore, and most
importantly for this study, worker characteristics significantly predicted
their substantiation decision. Workers with fewer years of experience,
those in an Ongoing Services role, and with a lower caseload substantiated
significantly more often than those with more work experience, in another
role, and with higher caseloads. Lastly, caseload and years of experience, and
training and caseload both interacted to predict the substantiation decision.
Implications for policy and practice and future research areas are discussed.
Description
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Keywords
child welfare workers, decision making, International Resources, Canada, substantiation, child maltreatment
Citation
Lwin, K., Fallon, B., Filippelli, J., & Trocme, N. (2022). A multilevel examination of whether child welfare worker characteristics predict the substantiation decision in Canada. Journal of interpersonal violence, 08862605221120911.