Background

When a child welfare service agency receives a report of concern, there is an initial screening to decide whether an investigation needs to be initiated. In addition to the decision maker, case factors, external factors, and organizational factors have an impact on decision making in Child Welfare Services (CWS). Few recent studies have considered the impact of case factors on the initial screening.

Objective

This study examined case factors that have an impact on the decision to investigate in the Norwegian CWS.

Participants and setting

Participants included randomly drawn samples of case files from 16 agencies (N = 1365).

Methods

The study was designed as a cross-sectional case file study. Researchers coded the data on site at the agencies. To examine the association between a decision to investigate and case specific variables, multilevel logistic regression (generalized linear mixed model) analysis was conducted to account for case clustering effects within agencies.

Results

The rate of investigation was 82.3 %. Concerns of physical and sexual abuse (OR = 2.61***), parents' health and stressful events (OR = 2.20***), domestic violence or witnessing violence (OR = 2.52***), and concerns related to finances, housing, and employment (OR = 3.25**) lowered the threshold for investigation. Prior referrals were found to raise the threshold for investigation (OR = 0.88). (**p < .01, ***p < .001).

Conclusion

Although large differences between agencies exist in decision-making processes in the Norwegian CWS, there are common case factors affecting the initial screening of referrals.

中文翻译：

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挪威儿童福利调查中案件因素对初步筛选决定的影响

背景

当儿童福利服务机构收到关注报告时，会进行初步筛选，以决定是否需要启动调查。除了决策者之外，案例因素、外部因素和组织因素也会影响儿童福利服务 (CWS) 的决策。最近很少有研究考虑病例因素对初始筛查的影响。

客观的

本研究考察了影响挪威 CWS 调查决定的案例因素。

参与者和设置

参与者包括从 16 个机构（N = 1365）随机抽取的案例文件样本。

方法

该研究被设计为横断面案例档案研究。研究人员在机构现场对数据进行了编码。为了检查调查决定与案例特定变量之间的关联，进行了多级逻辑回归（广义线性混合模型）分析，以说明机构内的案例聚类效应。

结果

调查率为82.3%。对身体和性虐待的担忧（OR = 2.61***）、父母的健康和压力事件（OR = 2.20***）、家庭暴力或目击暴力（OR = 2.52***）以及与财务有关的担忧，住房和就业（OR = 3.25**）降低了调查门槛。发现先前的转诊提高了调查的门槛（OR = 0.88）。(**p < .01, ***p < .001)。

结论

尽管挪威标准委员会的决策过程中各机构之间存在很大差异，但有一些共同的案例因素会影响转介的初步筛选。