Advancing the Field of Decision-Making and Judgment in Child Welfare and Protection: A Look Back and Forward

Our knowledge of decision-making in child welfare has evolved concurrent with the recognition of variability in the rates at which children and families experience no involvement to deeper involvement in the system. This chapter recaps the challenges to identifying systematic causes for variability in decisions and what can be learned about them. While research indicates that emphasis on both formal and informal assessment is warranted, errors and mistakes can happen at all stages of the assessment and decision processes due to a range of system and human factors. The Decision-Making Ecology (DME), General Assessment and Decision-Making (GADM), and Judgments and Decision Processes in Context (JUDPiC) models presented in this book promote organizational, regional, and national levels of context. Context includes the ways that teams approach decision-making and how interactions among team members have mixed potential to improve on individual decision-making. This chapter also touches on gaps in the research on child welfare decision-making. Key among these are team decisions, relating decisions to outcomes, and the use of new technologies like predictive risk modeling. To move decision-making research forward the authors recommend melding methods such as vignette and behavioral studies, the translation of decision-making research through the use of experimental quantitative studies, qualitative approaches such as think-aloud techniques related to systems, and increased research attention focused on the role of child participation in decision-making.