Promise and Reality of Risk Assessment

• NCJ Number: 163656
• Journal: Protecting Children Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: (1996) Pages: 9-13
• Author(s): D J English
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

An overview of risk assessment in child protection is presented, and a risk assessment model used in Washington State is described.

Abstract

Different factors have influenced the development and adoption of risk assessment models in child protection service (CPS) agencies over the past 10 years. During the 1980's, CPS agencies were criticized for lacking a rational basis for decisionmaking. CPS agencies were encouraged to develop standard criteria for assessing risk and guidelines for identifying appropriate services. Risk assessment models have been designed to provide guidelines for practice, to optimize the use of available resources, to provide a rationale for service targeting, and to improve agency capacity to objectively measure accountability. Since 1987, at least 42 States have adopted some form of CPS risk assessment. Risk assessment models have different purposes, definitions of child maltreatment vary by State, and research on child maltreatment risk factors has been driven by different theories. Researchers have identified different risks associated with different types of abuse and with individual, family, and social contexts. Because Washington State has experienced a steady increase in the number and seriousness of child maltreatment reports, a risk assessment model has been developed to incorporate available research and features from other risk assessment models. Purposes of the Washington Risk Model are to provide guidelines for different decision points in the life of a CPS case, to improve the consistency of decisionmaking, and to provide a mechanism for allocating scarce resources to the highest risk cases. Analysis is being conducted by Washington officials to evaluate risk factors associated with different types of abuse, subtypes of particular abuse types, and similarities and differences in risk factors associated with different ethnic groups. 17 references