Decision-Making and Judgment in Child Welfare and Protection: Theory, Research, and Practice

Professionals in child welfare and protection are often required to make decisions--fraught with many difficulties and shortcomings--that have crucial implications for children and families. There are many indications that these decisions are frequently unreliable and involve unavoidable errors in judgement due to the uncertainties. Despite the central role of judgements in the field, child welfare and protection training and research programs pay limited attention to leveraging the human factors aspect of practice.

Although extensive research exists in relevant areas--such as medicine, psychology, business administration, and economics--little has been done to help develop, transfer, and translate scientific knowledge to the child welfare arena. Decision-Making and Judgment in Child Welfare and Protection pulls together the best internationally sourced expertise and makes it accessibly available and applicable to scholars, educators, practitioners, students, and policymakers--the key stakeholders in child protective services and child welfare.

John D. Fluke, PhD, is Professor and Associate Director for Systems Research and Evaluation at the Kempe Center in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Mónica López López, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Rami Benbenishty, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at the School of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Erik J. Knorth, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Donald J. Baumann, PhD, is an instructor at St. Edwards University. He retired from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services where he was head of the Evaluation Section of Child Protective Services.