Social Work Now, Issue 22, pages 14-19.
Child protection social workers routinely make decisions that can have a major impact in the lives of children and their families (Howe, 2000). The act of decision-making in Aotearoa/New Zealand by social workers has been criticised through media representations of tragic incidents involving children and young people. Thus, the practice decision to act or not to act in a particular way has been portrayed as ineffective and at worst negligent. This practice issue, decision-making, is beginning to be found in the social work literature (DePanfillis and Zuravin, 1999; O’Sullivan, 1999).
This paper reviews this literature and argues that social workers are a central agent in early case decisions. The studies cited in this paper all draw on the practice experience of practitioners to highlight the centrality of this involvement. The literature is largely international; however, this is valuable for statutory social workers in Aotearoa/New Zealand because of the paucity of local research in how we form, review and operationalise early practice decisions. It has been argued elsewhere that to understand and make sense of decision-making in practice will lead to an informed policy/practice interface (O’Sullivan, 1999). The paper sets a context for local practice, reviews the practice decision literature and draws professional practice issues out of this literature to argue that social workers are a central agent in case decision-making.