Family group decision-making for children at risk of abuse or neglect: A systematic review.

Background: Capturing the scale of child maltreatment is difficult, but few would argue that it is anything less than a global problem which can affect victims' health and well-being throughout their life. Systems of detection, investigation and intervention for maltreated children are the subject of continued review and debate. Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of the formal use of family group decision-making (FGDM) in terms of child safety, permanence (of child's living situation), child and family well-being, and client satisfaction with the decision-making process. Search Methods: Both published and unpublished manuscripts were considered eligible for this review. Library staff from Scholarly Information (Brownless Biomedical Library) University of Melbourne, conducted 14 systematic bibliographic searches. Reviewers also checked the reference lists of all relevant articles obtained, and reference lists from previously published reviews. Researchers also hand-searched 10 relevant journals. Selection Criteria: Study samples of children and young people, aged 0-18 years, who have been the subject of a child maltreatment investigation, were eligible for this review. Studies had to have used random assignment to create treatment and control groups; or, parallel cohorts in which groups were assessed at the same point in time. Any form of FGDM, used in the course of a child maltreatment investigation or service, was considered an eligible intervention if it involved: a concerted effort to convene family, extended family, and community members; and professionals; and involved a planned meeting with the intention of working collaboratively to develop a plan for the safety well-being of children; with a focus on family-centred decision-making. Data Collection and Analysis: Two review authors independently extracted the necessary data from each study report, using the software application Covidence. Covidence highlighted discrepancies between data extracted by separate reviewers, further analysis was conducted until a consensus was reached on what data were to be included in the review. Two authors also independently conducted analyses of study bias. Main Results: Eighteen eligible study reports were found, providing findings from 15 studies, involving 18 study samples. Four were randomised controlled trials (RCTs; Authors' Conclusions: The current evidence base, in this field, is insufficient to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of FGDM. These models of child protection decision-making may help bring about better outcomes for children at risk, or they may increase the risk of further maltreatment. Further research of rigour, designed to avoid the potential biases of previous evaluations, is needed.