Abstract：
Understanding service disposition pathways is critical to provide deeper insight into why certain subgroups of the population are at risk for recurrent Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement and may highlight disparities across groups or geographic areas. Using the Decision-Making Ecology Framework as a lens, the present study examines whether service disposition pathways are influenced by risk assessment, safety concerns, child age, maltreatment type, previous CPS involvement, and/or county-level structural vulnerability. We linked administrative data from New Mexico\'s Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) to data from the American Community Survey. Multilevel models examining associations between case (N = 12,960) and county (N = 33) characteristics revealed that both case (age, maltreatment type, risk/safety assessments, previous CPS involvement) and county-level factors (transportation and housing) were associated with service disposition. Additionally, we observed considerable variation at the county level in both the provision of services and the relationship between risk assessment and service provision. By linking different factors of the decision-making process in child welfare cases to intervention strategies, the analysis reveals that the perception of risk can vary based on geographical context resulting in different outcomes for families who have similar risks but different county-level vulnerabilities.
摘要：
了解服务处置途径对于更深入地了解为什么人口中的某些亚组面临反复儿童保护服务（CPS）参与的风险至关重要，并且可能突出不同群体或地理区域之间的差异。以决策生态学框架为视角，本研究考察了服务处置途径是否受风险评估的影响，安全问题,儿童年龄,虐待类型,以前的CPS参与，和/或县级结构脆弱性。我们链接了新墨西哥州儿童部的行政数据，青年和家庭(DCYF)来自美国社区调查的数据。研究病例(N=12,960)和县(N=33)特征之间关联的多水平模型显示，这两个病例(年龄，虐待类型,风险/安全评估，以前的CPS参与)和县级因素(交通和住房)与服务处置相关。此外,我们观察到县级服务的提供以及风险评估与服务提供之间的关系存在很大差异。通过将儿童福利案件决策过程的不同因素与干预策略联系起来，分析显示,对风险的感知可能因地理环境而异,从而导致具有相似风险但不同县级脆弱性的家庭的结果不同.
