In Québec, Canada, the allows child protection services to intervene in situations of serious risk of sexual abuse. Although the litigation of these cases is frequent, few studies have focused on the decision-making process of judges in Youth Court. The present study aims to document the criteria used by the judges to substantiate allegation of serious risk of sexual abuse and to render a placement order. Using a sequential explanatory mixed-method design, we analyzed 104 judicial decisions of the Youth Court of Québec between January 2016 and January 2023 involving a situation of risk of sexual abuse in families with children aged 0 to 12 years. The quantitative phase of the study revealed that psychosocial difficulties of children and parents, as well as the number of reasons for intervention are associated to a placement order. Based on a thematic analysis (n = 24), the qualitative phase of the study highlighted three main types of criteria used by the judges to substantiate allegation of serious risk of sexual abuse: 1) the vulnerability of the child; 2) the characteristics of the family system; and 3) the parents' compliance with external demands.

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儿童性虐待的风险：对魁北克青年法院司法判决的混合方法分析

在加拿大魁北克省，允许儿童保护服务机构对存在严重性虐待风险的情况进行干预。尽管这些案件的诉讼频发，但很少有研究关注青少年法庭法官的决策过程。本研究旨在记录法官用来证实严重性虐待风险指控并下达安置令的标准。我们采用序贯解释性混合方法设计，分析了魁北克青少年法院在 2016 年 1 月至 2023 年 1 月期间做出的 104 项司法判决，涉及 0 至 12 岁儿童家庭的性虐待风险情况。研究的定量阶段表明，儿童和家长的心理社会困难以及干预原因的数量与安置顺序有关。基于主题分析（n = 24），研究的定性阶段强调了法官用来证实严重性虐待风险指控的三类主要标准：1）儿童的脆弱性； 2）家庭制度的特点； 3）父母对外部要求的遵守情况。