Decisions on placement and family preservation. Agreement and targeting.

Vignettes presented to experts and workers in the child welfare field were used to explore the degree of agreement on decisions to place children in substitute care or to refer them to family preservation services. The design allowed for investigation of the problem of targeting in family preservation programs. Findings indicate considerable inconsistency in decisions among experts and workers, particularly in decisions to refer to family preservation and other in-home services. Contrary to the stated intentions of family preservation services, a majority of the referrals to these programs do not involve children who would have been placed in the absence of these programs.