Does caregiver participation in decision making within child welfare agencies influence children's primary and mental health care service use?

Background Many children in contact with child welfare agencies do not receive needed health services. These agencies have used participatory decision making (PDM) practices as a way to increase families' use of recommended services. However, we lack evidence of whether caregiver participation in PDM increases children's use of health services. This study uses a national sample of children involved with child welfare to compare their health service use between those children serve through a PDM practice and those who did not experience it. Methods Cross‐sectional analyses using the 2009–2010 National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well‐Being. Propensity score analysis accounted for observed selection bias. PDM practice was measured as whether the caregiver was included in decision‐making during service planning meetings. Health service use was measured as child's receipt of any primary or mental health care services in the past year. Primary health care need was measured using standardized measures and caseworker report. The sample was comprised of children ages 2–17 with primary or mental health needs in contact with a child welfare agency. Results In the unmatched sample of 1,358 children, 14% were served through a PDM service practice, and 12% had a primary health care and 37% a mental health need. Families served through PDM were also reported by caseworkers as more cooperative during the child welfare investigation, and with fewer reports of domestic violence and agency re‐referrals (P