Reporting a Black Child's Situation to Protective Services: Differences in Decision Making by Caseworkers in Administrative Areas With Disproportionately High and Low Reports.
In both Canada and the United States, Black children are over‐represented among children reported to Child Protective Services (CPS). The biases of mandated reporters are thought to contribute to this over‐representation. Prior studies have rarely examined the relationship between the over‐represent...
| Published in: | Child & Family Social Work Vol. 31; no. 2; pp. 713 - 724 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
May2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=192765482&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 192765482 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 13567500 ETB jtl: Child & Family Social Work issn: 13567500 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: May2026 vid: 31 iid: 2 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 192765482 185831640 192765482 192765482 10.1111/cfs.13313 192765482 ppf: 713 ppct: 11 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: C – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Reporting a Black Child's Situation to Protective Services: Differences in Decision Making by Caseworkers in Administrative Areas With Disproportionately High and Low Reports. aug: au: Dufour, Sarah Lavergne, Chantal Pelletier‐Gagnon, Héloïse Lord, Marjolaine affil: Université de Montréal, Montréal Québec,, Canada sug: subj: African Americans In Infancy and Childhood Social Work Service Child Welfare Decision Making Social Worker Attitudes Geographic Factors Urban Areas Human Male Female Cultural Diversity Job Experience Funding Source Child Self Report Qualitative Studies Semi-Structured Interview Sociodemographic Factors Child Abuse Prevention and Control Quebec Family Relations Socioeconomic Factors Cultural Sensitivity Health Services Accessibility Child: 6-12 years Male Female ab: In both Canada and the United States, Black children are over‐represented among children reported to Child Protective Services (CPS). The biases of mandated reporters are thought to contribute to this over‐representation. Prior studies have rarely examined the relationship between the over‐representation of Black children among children reported to CPS and the characteristics of the administrative areas in which mandated reporters work. This study describes and compares the processes leading professionals in two sets of administrative areas to decide to report a child to CPS rather than attempt to find other solutions (two areas with a high disproportion and low concentration of Blacks; two areas with a low disproportion and high concentration of Blacks). Verbatim transcripts of 35 individual interviews with professionals were first qualitatively analysed by topic then compared by administrative area. Four focus groups with a total of 26 caseworkers then enabled us to validate and interpret the decision‐making model derived from the interview analysis. The components of the decision‐making process that differ between areas are described and interpreted, with particular attention given to the diversity of alternatives to reporting, the subjective threshold leading to reporting, and cultural sensitivity. The implications for research and practice are discussed. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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