Qualitative exploration of child welfare workers’ decision-making experiences and perspectives on fairness

Assessing and responding to risks to children's safety is a primary concern of the child protection system (CPS), and decision-support tools have been developed to assist child welfare workers (CWW). Yet, a limited understanding of CWWs' decision-making experiences impedes our efforts to effectively support them. This qualitative study examines the unique characteristics of decision-making in CPS through focus groups involving CWWs from an agency in California. Five themes emerged: CWWs' responsibilities, decision-making characteristics, domain-specific complexities, and CWWs' perspectives on fairness in decision-making. The findings highlight the need to incorporate CWWs' experiences and insights in developing future decision-support tools.