Unacceptable risk factors in child maltreatment: Formulations from caseworkers.

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Approximately one million children are victims of maltreatment are assessed and placed in the child welfare system. The purpose of the current study was to identify caseworker perceptions of (a) reasons for youth removal from a home environment and (b) the parameters of intolerable problem categories that prompt such decisions. Four categories of maltreatment were generated to account for over 70% of the caseworkers' 249 reasons identified for youth removal using structured interviews. Within each category, perceptions of risk factors identified as intolerable for allowing youth to remain in the home were identified for each of the categories. Results may help providers to target the areas in which future program development and treatment delivery efforts should be directed. The Department of Social Services division of Child Protective Services (CPS) serves those individuals who are in need of protection from potentially abusive settings. More than three million referrals are made to child protective services throughout the United States for child abuse and neglect each year (Children's Bureau Administration on Children, Youth and Families, 2002). Out of these referrals, roughly one million children have been as the victims of substantiated abuse and neglect, with reports of maltreatment ranging from neglect to physical and sexual abuse. Caseworkers are mandated, by law, to protect children from abuse and neglect from any individual who is responsible for the child's welfare, including biological parents, foster parents, grand parents or any other individual who takes responsibility. In providing protection, Child Protective and Preventive Services have two main functions: (a) protection of a child and his/her best interests and (b) family preservation. Of the three million child maltreatment cases reported each year, an estimated 55% receive services to prevent abuse and neglect, with one-fifth of these children placed in foster-care or group homes and institutions (Children's Bureau Administration on Children, Youth and Families, 2002). The length of time a child can spend in foster care is alarming, however, and raises issues about what procedure or decision-making process caseworkers adhere to in determining whether or not a child should be returned to his/her home. Some youth spend over two years in out-of-home placement (Ansay & Perkins, 2001). How a caseworker decides when a child's removal from the home is appropriate and in the best interest of the child should be examined in order to better serve maltreated children. The decision-making process for frontline CPS workers is not an easy one. In an analysis of the decision-making process in which social workers undertake, Proctor (2002) noted that social workers are considered experts in their field and are, thus, responsible for making sound practical decisions that rely heavily on their knowledge. However, these decisions are compromised by a variety of factors, ranging from time constraints to lack of available information on which to make these decisions. Child protective professionals faced with growing criticism about the decision-making procedures utilized when a child has been placed in an unfit home or stays in the system too long have been forced to examine their practices. Several models have been implemented in order to reduce the error rate among CPS workers and to make the decision-making process less painstaking. The CPS worker must use judgment to determine what is in the child's best interest as well as how to maintain the ethical standards set forth by the agency. The rate of error may be high for CPS workers if they fail to adhere to a decision-making