Faculty of Educational and Social Sciences, Department of Pedagogic and Rehabilitation Psychology, University of Oldenburg, Germany, Ammerlaender Heerstrasse 114-118, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany.
Faculty of Law, Department of Criminology, University of Hamburg, Germany, Rothenbaumchaussee 33, 20148 Hamburg, Germany.
Child Abuse Negl. 2018 Oct;84:196-204. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.08.003. Epub 2018 Aug 14.
Child protection matters from an important social and legal challenge, in which psychologists may be called upon to address a series of questions relevant for judicial decision-making. In an explorative manner, the current study investigates variables that influence psychological evaluators' recommendations in child protection cases. The data is based on a quantitative content review of 103 psychological evaluation reports, conducted at an institute of forensic psychology in Germany. Using bivariate and logistic regression analyses, the following predictors were analyzed in this study: Child-related factors, familial risk factors, and general custody criteria. The outcome measure was the evaluator's recommendation regarding long-term placement of the child and long-term custody arrangements. Evaluators were more likely to recommend permanent foster placement if the child showed insecure or disorganized attachment patterns, especially when combined with developmental delays, or if the child was temporarily in institutional or foster placement at the time of evaluation. The results support the conclusion that the most important factors for psychological expert recommendations refer to the "harm of the child" criterion in terms of developmental and psychological maladaptation.
儿童保护是一个重要的社会和法律挑战，心理学家可能会被要求解决一系列与司法决策相关的问题。本研究以探索的方式，调查了影响儿童保护案件中心理评估员建议的变量。该数据基于对德国法医心理学研究所进行的 103 份心理评估报告的定量内容审查。本研究分析了以下预测因素：儿童相关因素、家庭风险因素和一般监护标准。因变量是评估员关于儿童长期安置和长期监护安排的建议。如果儿童表现出不安全或组织混乱的依恋模式，特别是当与发育迟缓结合时，或者如果儿童在评估时暂时在机构或寄养中，评估员更有可能建议永久寄养安置。研究结果支持这样的结论，即心理专家建议最重要的因素涉及“儿童的伤害”标准，即发展和心理适应不良。
