臺灣兒少保護親屬安置決策因素探索──決策生態架構檢視

Kinship Care Placement Decision Making in Taiwan: An Examination of Decision Making Ecology Framework

親屬安置能提供遭受不當對待的兒童一個家庭式、穩定、熟悉的照顧環境，在臺灣，兒少保護或替代性照顧服務相關政策也規範親屬安置應做為家外安置的優先選項。然而，在實務推行上，兒少安置於親屬家庭的比率仍較低（相較於安置機構和寄養家庭），此結果關乎兒少保護工作者在執行親屬安置決策時的評估歷程。因此，本研究以「決策生態架構」為基礎，探索親屬安置決策之關鍵因素，針對國內18縣市之7 1位兒少保護社工或督導進行深度訪談和焦點團體。研究發現：(親屬安置照顧者範疇未有明確規範，影響安置費用補助資格和非血緣擬親屬認定。2)個案因素：兒少和家庭特質非重要決策因素，主要評估親屬與兒少的關係和照顧意願。部分社工考量家內性侵案件類型並不適用親屬安置。3)決策者因素：社工仍存有質疑親屬照顧者合適性的價值衝突，亦比較不同安置資源或參考累積的服務經驗後，會偏好寄養家庭和機構安置。4)組織因素：內部管理要求親屬安置優先，但因著地方化制度和資源影響安置決策。5)外部因素：政策規範的安置順序會促進工作者盤點親屬資源，但社會究責文化和跨縣市分工複雜度，影響親屬安置成案考量。研究建議國內親屬安置制度應有明確一致性規範，且應考量地方脈絡與服務資源。

Kinship care can provide maltreated children a family-like, stable, and familiar caregiving environment. In Taiwan, child protection related regulations have prioritized kinship care as the first out-of-home placement option. However, in practice, compared to residential care and foster family, kinship care represents a low proportion. This regards caseworkers’decision-making and assessment on the care quality. Thus, this study is based on the“Decision-Making Ecology Framework”and aims at exploring child protective service workers’kinship care placement decision-making process and key factors. Individual interviews and focus groups were conducted with 71 child protective service workers or supervisors from 18 counties/cities. Findings indicate that: (1) The definition of“kin”is unclearly regulated, resulting in unclear practice about kinship care qualification. (2)Case factors: children and family characteristics are not key factors, but kinship caregivers’intention and their relationship with the child are more importantly assessed. Kinship care is considered not appropriate for incest related cases, as a type of maltreatment. (3) Decision-maker factors: social workers may still question caregivers’capability. Especially, after comparing kinship care with other types of placements, workers would prefer placing children with well-trained caregivers. (4) Organizational factors: localized regulations and resources in different counties/cities influence the decision-making outcomes. (5) External factors: child welfare policy has set up a placement hierarchy standard for social workers to identify kinship caregivers when removal and placement are necessary. But negative publicity, liability fears, and inconsistent regulations across different counties/cities result in a more complicated kinship care decision-making process. Suggestions are provided regarding regulations which should consider cultural and societal contexts in different counties/cities in order for more flexibility.