Observing front line decision making in child protection

The nature and quality of social work decision making have been highlighted in recent years by a number of high-profile child deaths. Recognising and assessing child abuse is beset with uncertainties and complexities that profoundly shape practice yet are often overlooked by more official and distanced accounts. This paper draws on ethnographic data from a study of social workers' decision making to uncover some of the issues they faced in gathering and assessing information. Workers faced problems with inaccurate or incomplete information, poorly defined situations, time pressures and heavy workloads. The paper draws attention to the ways in which the team organised itself to manage these issues which could provide a better understanding of how everyday decision making can be supported and improved.