Background

An important responsibility of the child welfare system, is taking decisions on the reunification of children with their birth parents after the children have lived in foster families. We currently lack evidence-based knowledge to guide the reunification decision-making process.

Objective

The present study uses concept mapping as an exploratory method, to identify themes that seem to be used by two groups of professionals in their judgement and decision making on reunification.

Method

First, we consulted 78 foster care workers and studied 172 legal cases to examine criteria important for reunification. Next, unique criteria were grouped and rated by 35 foster care workers and also by 12 family judges separately. The data was analysed with multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis which resulted in a concept map for each group of professionals.

Results

Both foster care workers and family judges suggested the following themes in the reunification decision-making process: (a) birth parents’ functioning and parenting abilities, (b) birth parents’ acceptance of support, and (c) the child’s functioning, developmental needs and wishes. Besides parallel themes, both foster care workers and family judges also seem to consider unique themes.

Conclusions

The suggested similarities and differences between the two groups of professionals possibly reflect different professional frameworks. The foster care workers’ considerations seem to have an orientation towards permanency planning while the family judges’ considerations seem to be linked to the legal framework. Gaining insight in the perspective of different groups of professionals involved in the process of reunification, is a small but important step towards reaching consensus through discussion in order to achieve the optimal implementation of the decisions considered in the best interest of children’s future.

中文翻译：

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荷兰家庭寄养中的家庭团聚决策：双重视角

背景

儿童福利制度的一项重要职责是，在子女生活在寄养家庭之后，就子女与亲生父母团聚作出决定。目前，我们缺乏基于证据的知识来指导统一决策过程。

目的

本研究使用概念映射作为一种探索性方法，以识别似乎由两组专业人员在对统一进行判断和决策时使用的主题。

方法

首先，我们咨询了78名寄养人员，研究了172例法律案件，以审查对统一至关重要的标准。接下来，由35名寄养服务人员和12位家庭法官分别对独特的标准进行分组和评分。通过多维缩放和聚类分析对数据进行分析，从而得出每组专业人员的概念图。

结果

寄养服务人员和家庭法官均在统一决策过程中提出了以下主题：（a）亲生父母的功能和养育子女的能力，（b）亲生父母对支持的接受，以及（c）孩子的功能，发育需求和愿望。除了平行的主题，寄养服务人员和家庭法官似乎都在考虑独特的主题。

结论

两组专业人员之间建议的异同可能反映了不同的专业框架。寄养服务人员的考虑似乎针对永久性计划，而家庭法官的考虑似乎与法律框架相关。从参与统一过程的不同专业人士群体的角度获得见识，是通过讨论达成共识以实现对儿童未来最大利益的最佳决策的一个小而重要的步骤。