Examining the role of child welfare worker characteristics and the substantiation decision.

BACKGROUND: The role of child welfare workers is twofold, to promote the safety of children and youth and to address their wellbeing. This provincially legislated mandate requires child welfare workers to make decisions across the child welfare service continuum. After a report of child maltreatment is investigated, workers are required to assess the veracity of the allegation through the substantiation decision and to determine whether the child has been victimized, which may impact on families' future involvement with services. Little is known whether or how individual worker characteristics impact the substantiation decision. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: This study estimated the degree of variation across caseworker characteristics in the substantiation decision through secondary data analysis of the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (OIS, 2018). We explored how the substantiation decision varied across clinical and caseworker characteristics, using both simple and multilevel logistic regression models. RESULTS: Findings suggest that primarily clinical characteristics predicted the substantiation decision, however, worker years of child welfare experience also predicted substantiation, such that more experienced workers were significantly more likely to substantiate than less experienced workers (est = 0.02, SE = 0.01, p < .10). The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (35 %) suggests differences among child welfare workers' substantiation decision, they are however, characteristics not measured in this study. CONCLUSIONS: Further research to assess the differential nature of child welfare worker characteristics and their role in decision-making is required.

Evidence-Informed Decision Making in Child Welfare: A Randomized Control Trial Evaluation.

PURPOSE: Child welfare practice often requires direct intervention with vulnerable children and families, whereby workers are responsible for various services and decisions that may have a lasting impact on families involved in the child welfare system. Research illustrates that clinical needs are not necessarily the only factor at the foundation of decision making; Evidence-informed Decision Making (EIDM) can act as a foundation for critical thinking and deliberate practice in the context of child welfare service delivery. This study evaluates an EIDM training that aimed to enhance workers' behavior and attitude toward the EIDM process with a focus on research. METHOD: This randomized control trial evaluated the effectiveness of an online EIDM training for child welfare workers. The training consisted of five modules that were completed at the team (n = 19) level at a rate of approximately one module every three weeks. The training intended to promote the exploration and use of research in everyday practice by critically thinking through the EIDM process. RESULTS: Due to attrition and incomplete posttests, the final sample size was 59 participants (intervention, n = 36; control, n = 23). Generalized Linear Model Repeated Measures analyses found an EIDM training main effect on confidence in using research and research use. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Importantly, findings suggest that this EIDM training can influence participant outcomes related to engaging in the process and the use of research in practice. Engagement with EIDM is one mechanism to promote critical thinking and exploration of research during the service delivery process.

A Multilevel Examination of Whether Child Welfare Worker Characteristics Predict the Substantiation Decision in Canada.

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.

Risk of Future Maltreatment: Examining Whether Worker Characteristics Predict Their Perception.

Child welfare workers aim to promote the well-being and safety of children and are the link between the child welfare system and families. Families served by the child welfare system should expect similar service based on clinical factors, not based on their caseworker's characteristics. Using secondary data analyses of the most recent Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2008) and multilevel modeling, this study examines whether child welfare worker characteristics, such as education level and field, age, and experience predict their perception of the risk of future maltreatment. A total of 1729 case-level investigations and 419 child welfare workers were included in this study. Several one-level logistic regression and two-level logistic regression analyses were run. The best-fit model suggests that caseworkers with a Master's degree, more than 2 years of experience, and more than 18 cases were significantly more likely to perceive risk of future maltreatment. Further, the interaction between degree level and age also significantly predicted the perception of risk of future maltreatment. Results suggest that the perception of risk of future maltreatment may be influenced by caseworker factors, thus service to families may differ based on caseworker characteristics.

Young Children and Ongoing Child Welfare Services: A Multilevel Examination of Clinical and Worker Characteristics.

There is a growing body of research that underscores that young child welfare-involved children are a unique vulnerable subgroup of children. The decision to provide postinvestigation child welfare services is consequential to children's safety and well-being and has fiscal implications for organizations. Despite the potential ramifications of the decision, there is little known about the factors associated with the ongoing services provision for young children. This study uses secondary data analysis of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect 2008 to explore what case and worker factors predict the provision of ongoing child welfare services. Multilevel modeling was used to assess the relationship between independent variables and the decision to provide ongoing services; analyses included 2,296 children and 555 workers. Case and worker characteristics, including worker training and worker position, predicted ongoing child welfare services suggesting that further research examining the role of what worker characteristics impact child welfare decisions is warranted and essential.

A changing child welfare workforce: What worker characteristics are valued in child welfare?

A child welfare system is responsible for making difficult decisions. Child welfare workers are charged with assessing and determining when a child is in need of protection, including when it is necessary to intervene on behalf of children when their caregivers' abilities and/or situation is deemed to put them at risk of abuse or neglect. Although the child welfare workforce in Ontario attended to an estimated 125,281 child maltreatment investigations in 2013, little is known about the skills, education, and experiences of these investigating workers. Notwithstanding assumptions about the qualifications and characteristics necessary for effective child welfare practice, few studies explicitly link the specific characteristics of workers to children, youth, and families achieving positive case outcomes. These assumptions have been shaped by a multitude of factors including knowledge of human resources, professional standards, and educational requriements. This study examined data from five cycles over twenty years of Ontario Incidence Studies (-1993, -1998, -2003, -2008, -2013) to provide a profile of child welfare workers. This is the first study to examine the changing profile of child welfare workers in any province in Canada and provides a foundation for developing effective recruitment and professional development strategies, and promoting a positive work environment. Policy and practice implications for the changing needs of these families are discussed.

Ongoing child welfare services: Understanding the relationship of worker and organizational characteristics to service provision.

Ongoing child welfare services are put in place after completion of the initial maltreatment investigation when there is a perceived need to mitigate the risk of future harm. The knowledge of how clinical, worker, and organizational characteristics interact with this decision to provide ongoing child welfare services is not well integrated in the research literature. Using secondary data from the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2008, this study's primary objective is to understand the relationship of clinical, worker, and organizational characteristics to the decision to transfer a case to ongoing child welfare services and their relative contribution to the transfer decision in Canada. Findings indicate that several clinical level variables are associated with families receiving ongoing services. Additionally, organizational factors, such as type of services offered by the organization and the number of employee support programs available to workers, significantly predicted the decision to transfer a case to ongoing services. While no worker factors, such as education, amount of training, experience, or caseload, were associated with ongoing service receipt, the intraclass correlation coefficient of the final three-level parsimonious model indicated substantial clustering at the worker level. Results indicate that Canadian child welfare workers make decisions differently based on factors not available in the current study and that what would be deemed as important worker characteristics do not necessarily predict this outcome. Findings and implications for future research are discussed.