Sociology Commons^™

Gendered Effects On The Child Welfare Agency Decision-Making Process, Brandon Crawford

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research on child abuse and neglect suggests that there may be gendered relationships between child victims and case outcomes. Specifically, although agency practices may generally regard most male and female children as equally vulnerable, agency attributions regarding the culpability, need, and suitability of parents may be highly differentiated based on gender. Explanations for this pattern may lie in the cultural ideologies and organizational beliefs that distinguish between the perceived rights, responsibilities, and relative importance of mothering and fathering roles. That is, one function of Social service agencies is to uphold Social constructions of parenting and promote our larger cultural …