Decisions with Good Intentions: Substance Use Allegations and Child Protective Services Screening Decisions

This quantitative study of decision-making factors related to screening maltreatment reports was conducted to investigate whether personal biases, values, and stereotypes surrounding parental drug use and race influenced screening decisions. In one southeastern state, 86 child welfare intake supervisors reviewed 10 scenarios alleging maltreatment. Participants decided which reports to accept for investigation, identified influential decision-making factors, and rated personal and organizational values surrounding parental drug use on a scale developed by the researcher. Participants' decision-making patterns suggest that when their values and child welfare policies conflicted in their desire to protect children, supervisors were willing to compromise policy standards for initiating investigations. The social justice implications of these findings are important for child welfare workers and administrators to consider.