Current Debates on Variability in Child Welfare Decision-Making: A Selected Literature Review
Keddell, Emily

Publisher
Cite this item:
Keddell, E. (2014). Current Debates on Variability in Child Welfare Decision-Making: A Selected Literature Review. Social Sciences, 3(4), 916–940. doi:10.3390/socsci3040916
Permanent link to OUR Archive version:
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/6602
Abstract:
This article considers selected drivers of decision variability in child welfare decision-making and explores current debates in relation to these drivers. Covering the related influences of national orientation, risk and responsibility, inequality and poverty, evidence-based practice, constructions of abuse and its causes, domestic violence and cognitive processes, it discusses the literature in regards to how each of these influences decision variability. It situates these debates in relation to the ethical issue of variability and the equity issues that variability raises. I propose that despite the ecological complexity that drives decision variability, that improving internal (within-country) decision consistency is still a valid goal. It may be that the use of annotated case examples, kind learning systems, and continued commitments to the social justice issues of inequality and individualisation can contribute to this goal.
Date:
2014
Publisher:
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Pages:
916-940
ISSN:
2076-0760
Rights Statement:
© 2014 by the author; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords:
Decision making; judgement; child abuse; variability; child welfare; risk; practice; orientations
Research Type:
Journal Article
Languages:
English
Collections
- Sociology, Gender and Social Work [227]
- Journal Article [776]
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