Illuminating the complexity of decision making in child welfare using the decision making ecology: A scoping review

•The Decision-Making Ecology is a framework to understand the multitude of factors that influence child welfare decision making.•The DME categorizes these factors into 4 distinct domains: case, organizational, decision maker, and external.•When using the DME, most studies in the scoping review sampl...

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Veröffentlicht in:Children and youth services review Jg. 169; S. 108121
Hauptverfasser: Allan, Heather, Hollinshead, Dana, Rockwell, Kayla, Ender, Kaitlyn, Antwi-Boasiako, Kofi, O’Leary, Donna, Middel, Floor, Fluke, John
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2025
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ISSN:0190-7409
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Abstract •The Decision-Making Ecology is a framework to understand the multitude of factors that influence child welfare decision making.•The DME categorizes these factors into 4 distinct domains: case, organizational, decision maker, and external.•When using the DME, most studies in the scoping review sample explored multiple factor domains with case factors most commonly explored.•Inequalities in decisional outcomes (e.g. placement) may be exacerbated if these factors are not understood or managed.•More research on the interaction between factors is needed. Decision making in the context of child welfare is inherently complex and their lasting potential impact on families subject to them cannot be overstated. The Decision-Making Ecology is one framework for understanding this complexity as well as the interplay between various decision-making factors and the subsequent outcomes that they inform. The purpose of this scoping review was to understand the extent to which the Decision-Making Ecology has been employed in research examining case, decision-maker, organizational, and community factors’ associations with child welfare decisional outcomes. Our review of 56 studies found that most studies (n = 48, 86 %) examine case factors, organizational factors are the second most likely category to be explored (n = 42, 75 %), followed by decision-maker (n = 33, 59 %) and external factors (n = 29, 52 %). A majority of studies explored more than one domain; indeed, nearly 90 % of studies (n = 50) explored at least two domains while a mere six studies explored just one. Further, nearly 60 % of studies (n = 33) explored three domains while nearly a quarter (n = 13) explored all four. Across methodologies placement and substantiation were the most commonly explored outcomes in nearly a third and fifth of studies (n = 18, n = 12), respectively. While the results of our scoping review confirm the premise of the DME; when examining decisions and outcomes, decisional factor variation matters and DME framework continues to provide a useful scaffold for productive child welfare decision-making research. It also clearly demonstrates that there is ample room for more research in this area, particularly as it relates to proposing solutions to address the root causes of decisional variability and thus, inequitable outcomes for marginalized populations.
AbstractList •The Decision-Making Ecology is a framework to understand the multitude of factors that influence child welfare decision making.•The DME categorizes these factors into 4 distinct domains: case, organizational, decision maker, and external.•When using the DME, most studies in the scoping review sample explored multiple factor domains with case factors most commonly explored.•Inequalities in decisional outcomes (e.g. placement) may be exacerbated if these factors are not understood or managed.•More research on the interaction between factors is needed. Decision making in the context of child welfare is inherently complex and their lasting potential impact on families subject to them cannot be overstated. The Decision-Making Ecology is one framework for understanding this complexity as well as the interplay between various decision-making factors and the subsequent outcomes that they inform. The purpose of this scoping review was to understand the extent to which the Decision-Making Ecology has been employed in research examining case, decision-maker, organizational, and community factors’ associations with child welfare decisional outcomes. Our review of 56 studies found that most studies (n = 48, 86 %) examine case factors, organizational factors are the second most likely category to be explored (n = 42, 75 %), followed by decision-maker (n = 33, 59 %) and external factors (n = 29, 52 %). A majority of studies explored more than one domain; indeed, nearly 90 % of studies (n = 50) explored at least two domains while a mere six studies explored just one. Further, nearly 60 % of studies (n = 33) explored three domains while nearly a quarter (n = 13) explored all four. Across methodologies placement and substantiation were the most commonly explored outcomes in nearly a third and fifth of studies (n = 18, n = 12), respectively. While the results of our scoping review confirm the premise of the DME; when examining decisions and outcomes, decisional factor variation matters and DME framework continues to provide a useful scaffold for productive child welfare decision-making research. It also clearly demonstrates that there is ample room for more research in this area, particularly as it relates to proposing solutions to address the root causes of decisional variability and thus, inequitable outcomes for marginalized populations.
ArticleNumber 108121
Author Rockwell, Kayla
Middel, Floor
Fluke, John
Antwi-Boasiako, Kofi
O’Leary, Donna
Ender, Kaitlyn
Allan, Heather
Hollinshead, Dana
Author_xml – sequence: 1
  givenname: Heather
  orcidid: 0000-0002-2106-8544
  surname: Allan
  fullname: Allan, Heather
  email: heather.allan@cuanschutz.edu
  organization: Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
– sequence: 2
  givenname: Dana
  orcidid: 0000-0002-0798-9777
  surname: Hollinshead
  fullname: Hollinshead, Dana
  organization: Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
– sequence: 3
  givenname: Kayla
  surname: Rockwell
  fullname: Rockwell, Kayla
  organization: Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
– sequence: 4
  givenname: Kaitlyn
  surname: Ender
  fullname: Ender, Kaitlyn
  organization: Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
– sequence: 5
  givenname: Kofi
  surname: Antwi-Boasiako
  fullname: Antwi-Boasiako, Kofi
  organization: King’s University College at Western University, School of Social Work, 266 Epworth Avenue, London, Ontario N6A 2M3, Canada
– sequence: 6
  givenname: Donna
  surname: O’Leary
  fullname: O’Leary, Donna
  organization: University College Cork, School of Applied Social Studies, Cork, Ireland
– sequence: 7
  givenname: Floor
  surname: Middel
  fullname: Middel, Floor
  organization: University of Groningen, Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences, Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, 9712 TS Groningen, the Netherlands
– sequence: 8
  givenname: John
  surname: Fluke
  fullname: Fluke, John
  organization: Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
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Keywords Child welfare
Scoping review
Decisional variability
Decision-making ecology
Outcomes
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SubjectTerms Child welfare
Decision-making ecology
Decisional variability
Outcomes
Scoping review
Title Illuminating the complexity of decision making in child welfare using the decision making ecology: A scoping review
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