The impact of socio-economic status and caregiver cooperation on school professionals' reports to child protection services in Switzerland

Abstract

Children spend a considerable amount of their time at school; many have trusted relationships with their teachers and some are supported by school social workers or school psychologists. However, factors driving school professionals' decision to report child victimisation to child protection services lack research. Based on a stratified random sample, 549 Swiss principals, school social workers and school psychologists participated in an online survey including two vignettes. While the family's socio-economic status was randomly presented as either high or low in the first vignette, caregiver cooperation was randomly varied in the second. Principals, school social workers and school psychologists were less likely to report to child protection authorities if the family had been described as cooperative or of high socio-economic status. The impact of both case characteristics was significant even while controlling for decision-maker and organisational factors. While the increased tendency to report a neglected child of a low socio-economic status family might actually be driven by need, the reluctance to report whether caregivers are cooperative should be examined more critically. Although caregiver cooperation might be considered an asset to working together for the best of the child, it does not guarantee improvement because cooperation might actually be superficial or driven by a hidden agenda.

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