Street-Level Disparities: How Place Shapes the Process of Frontline Child Welfare Investigations

Street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) define policy implementation and outcomes through their direct interactions with clients and their discretionary decision-making. SLB choices, though generally discretionary, are situated in the organizations and institutional environments in which they work, like their agency’s resources or external stakeholder demands. The fact that SLB choices exist within these contexts implies that the concept of place, or the characteristics of a geographic area, may also be important in street-level decision-making. In this article, I examine how place shapes street-level decision-making through the case of public child welfare investigations in rural, suburban, and urban regions. I analyze qualitative interview data from investigation workers (𝑛=24
) in a comparative case study of four public child welfare offices. Results indicate that place influences three mechanisms that shape individual worker decisions: (1) regional service availability, (2) geographic distance and time, and (3) local judicial culture. Each mechanism matters differentially in urban, suburban, and rural offices, uniquely influencing workers’ use of discretion and family outcomes across place.