Decision-Making processes in the child protection system: A comparative study between students and professionals in Portugal

Abstract

This research aims to achieve a better understanding of factors that influence the assessments and decisions of professionals and students about the possibility to remove a child at risk from her birth family. The study also analyzes the influence of the attitudes of the child’s mother on that decision. It was used a questionnaire based on a case vignette of alleged child maltreatment. Compared with students, professionals were more pro-removal, more in favor of reunification and parents’ participation in the decisions, and had a higher assessment of emotional abuse, and emotional and physical neglect. Mother’s wish did not show to have any impact in the two samples regarding maltreatment, risk assessments, and intervention recommendations.

Keywords:

• Attitudes
• decision on removal
• professionals
• risk assessment
• students

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Carvalho, João (2019), “Portuguese data”, Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/p2kh8mxx3x.1 at http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/p2kh8mxx3x.1