Testing Practice Wisdom in Child Welfare

Many practice decisions are based on what is known as practice wisdom. While in our everyday lives, we use such knowledge to make both simple and complex decisions, professionals, such as Child Protection Officers have to decide for example, whether or not to remove a child from home. Thus, they often base their decisions on their “individual theory of practice that represents the worker’s attempt to conceptualize what he is doing” (Bloom, 1975, p. 66). This knowledge however, is implicit and is not available for utilization in practice or research. It is therefore important to conceptualize this source of knowledge, and to explore its potential for utilization in practice and policy (Collins, Amodeo, & Clay, 2008).