Through the Family’s Eyes: How Local Rationality Can Shape Child Welfare Decision Making

Sammanfattning

Child welfare workers are constantly making critical and potential life-altering decisions regarding children and their families. This study examines how incorporating and understanding families’ local rationality may influence safety assessments and service recommendations conducted during an investigation. Furthermore, this research explores how workers interpret family dynamics and behaviours within complex situations. For this thesis, ten semi structured interviews were completed with investigative workers from the Maine Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) using a qualitative design. During this study, four key themes emerged: the tension between procedural and relational decision-making in child welfare, the important role experience plays in understanding families’ perspectives, the impact that local rationality can have on decision-making in child welfare cases, and how safety science training, especially around local rationality, could potentially improve these skills. Findings suggest that while procedural requirements such as policy and procedures have an important role in ensuring child safety, being able to integrate the families’ perspective may lead to more informed and effective decisions for children and their families. Given the high staff turnover rate child welfare has experienced for years, this study suggests that integrating safety science principles into training and supervision will help newer workers acquire these necessary decision-making skills and at the same time improve retention.