Work

Funneling Child Welfare Consumers into and through the Mental Health System: Assessment, Referral, and Quality Issues

Year: 2008

Type: article

Abstract: This qualitative study explores how consumers of child welfare services reach nonpsychiatric mental health providers and the perceived quality of these services. It relies on iterative interviews with individuals and groups, as well as on court observations from one metropolitan area. Results suggest that, consistent with theories of street-level bureaucracy, efficiency issues drive mental health service use, as clients are routinely subjected to psychological evaluations and funneled into mental health services as a matter of course. Referral practices are shaped by child welfare professionals' routines, discretion, and desire to meet such system objectives as providing short turnaround times for reports. The results suggest that, despite stakeholders' best intentions, maltreated children are not benefiting from thoughtful processes geared to screen for, assess, and provide targeted treatment for unmet mental health needs.

Source: Social Service Review

DOI: 10.1086/589780

Authors: Nicole Fedoravicius, J. Curtis McMillen, Jill E. Rowe, Njeri Kagotho, Norma C. Ware

Institutions: Washington University in St. Louis, Virginia Commonwealth University, Harvard University

Language: English

Topic: Child Welfare and Adoption

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health