2022 Volume 22 Pages 56-68
This study aimed to clarify how Child Guidance Centers make decisions regarding placing children in temporary protective custody. A total of 16 Child Guidance Center workers were interviewed, and the data was analyzed using the modified grounded theory approach (M-GTA) with the Structure-Construction Qualitative Research Method (SCQRM) as the meta-study method. The results identified a model consisting of the following three factors: “necessity of temporary protective custody,” “negative effects on the child” and “the potential for family improvement.”
The results showed that Child Guidance Centers’ initial decision-making criteria for cases of psychological abuse and neglect was no different from that of other types of child abuse and that the decision began with the assessment that temporary protective custody is necessary. However, in the cases of psychological abuse and neglect where harm to the child is less conspicuous, the results suggested that Child Guidance Centers made the decision to provide temporary protective custody based upon a careful assessment of the balance between the “negative effects on the child” and “the potential for family improvement.”
