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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/87318
Description
Title
Studying Permanency Decision Making
Author(s)
Tibrewal, Shradha
Issue Date
2002
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Poertner, John
Department of Study
Social Work
Discipline
Social Work
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Sociology, Public and Social Welfare
Language
eng
Abstract
Decision-making in child welfare has been an issue of concern for some time. A study of 28 reunification and 24 adoption and guardianship decisions was conducted to explore the factors considered important by child welfare professionals when making these decisions. Factors influencing decision making, such as confidence, uncertainty, adequacy of information, and similarity to other cases were explored to better understand how child welfare supervisors and caseworkers make decisions. Participants (supervisor-caseworker dyads) were requested to call the researcher when making a permanency decision and were asked to discuss the details of the case with no interruptions by the researcher. Within 3 to 7 days after this conversation a retrospective report was collected from the participants individually with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire. Findings demonstrated that supervisors and caseworkers were very confident of their decisions and indicated that they had most of the information they needed to make the decisions. They expressed low concerns and doubts about their decisions. Most supervisors and caseworkers expressed a similarity to other cases they had worked with, and some reported being influenced by it. High confidence has been associated with reduced search for information and inaccurate judgments. Strategies to reduce overconfidence as well as uncertainty and ways to improve accuracy in decision-making could be part of training for child welfare professionals. Better decision-making by supervisors and caseworkers will lead to better outcomes for children and their families served by the public/private child welfare system.
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