This week’s webinar speaker, Dee Wilson, co-wrote an article for a 2013 edition of the journal Child Welfare dedicated entirely to research on child fatalities.
The authors’ findings are still supported by subsequent studies. What’s changed is that their perspective has become unacceptable to those who influence child welfare policy today.
For example the authors recommended that child protection take action before children are harmed based on precursors of child murders such as family violence, or caregivers who have weak emotional ties to their infants.
Preventive child protection action today might be viewed by the political left as racist and as unwarranted intrusion into families by the right.
Should we proactively protect children in high-risk situations? An objective analysis of that question would require child welfare leaders who are in the political mainstream, rather than activists promoting an ideological agenda.
This week’s podcast analyzes the 2013 article in more detail and explores the management challenges to implementing its recommendations.
Read the transcript of the podcast here.