Objectives

Child protection referrals that contain information about incidents of physical child abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence have a high chance of being screened in for investigation. The aim of the current study is to investigate which case factors that affect the decision to screen-in cases with other types of concerns.

Method

A sample of referrals (N = 1365) to child protection services in Norway was randomly drawn. Information was collected regarding (i) child and family characteristics, (ii) the content of the referral (iii) the decision to investigate. A structural equation model that describe how case characteristics and the contents of the report influence the screening decision was estimated.

Results

Non abuse-concerns were grouped in three latent variables. The first consisted of referrals that contained concerns about a wide range of problems related to the child’s health and development. The second consisted of referrals that contained concerns about parental conflicts and child safety. The third consisted of concerns related to different types of family and environmental risk factors. Families with immigrant background have an increased chance of being screened-in, irrespective of referral content. Cases with previous referrals have a decreased chance of being screened-in.

Conclusions

When controlling for other case factors, more complex referrals with multiple concerns have increased chance of being screened in.

中文翻译：

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向儿童保护机构报告的非虐待问题的筛选决定——转介内容和决定结果的结构方程模型

目标

包含有关虐待儿童、性虐待和家庭暴力事件信息的儿童保护转介很有可能被筛查以进行调查。当前研究的目的是调查哪些案例因素会影响筛选具有其他类型问题的案例的决定。

方法

随机抽取了转介到挪威儿童保护服务机构的样本（N = 1365）。 收集了关于 (i) 儿童和家庭特征，(ii) 转介内容 (iii) 调查决定的信息。 对描述病例特征和报告内容如何影响筛选决定的结构方程模型进行了估计。

结果

非滥用问题被分为三个潜在变量。 第一个包括转介，其中包含对与儿童健康和发育相关的广泛问题的担忧。 第二个包括包含对父母冲突和儿童安全问题的转介。 第三个包括与不同类型的家庭和环境风险因素相关的问题。无论推荐内容如何，​​具有移民背景的家庭被筛选的机会都会增加。先前转诊的病例被筛选的机会减少。

结论

在控制其他病例因素时，具有多个问题的更复杂的转诊增加了被筛查的机会。