Factors Influencing the Response of Child Protective Service Workers to Reports of Abuse and Neglect (From Coping With Family Violence: Research and Policy Perspectives, P 238-256, 1988, Gerald T Hotaling, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-114444)

• NCJ Number: 114459
• Author(s): S J Wells
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This review of research on factors that influence the responses of child protective service workers to reports of child abuse and neglect concludes that the most influential factors are the severity of the abuse, the type of injury, the chronicity of the abuse, and parental factors.

Abstract

Decisions about substantiation of a report and about placement are not always clearly related, and workers express concerns about the lack of criteria for decisionmaking. Nevertheless, they are able to delineate some principles of practice and to describe the types of incidents that most often influence decisions. Factors such as the county in which the investigation is conducted, the court jurisdiction, the worker caseload, and the severity of the caseload may also be important in making decisions. Worker personal characteristics appear to be less influential than sometimes believed. However, professional indicators like a master's degree in social work may account for some variance in the decision made. Discussion of research and training implications and 51 references.