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In June 1992, a family services agency in the Niagara region of southern Ontario began implementing and operating a computerized version of the Child Welfare League of America's Child Well-Being Scales [Magura & Moses 1986]. The scales are completed on all cases at the point of transfer from intake to long-term family service, and then again every 120 days until case closure. The scales have been useful in clinical and administrative practice for case planning in aggregate form, service planning, community profiling, and outcome measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares various structured risk-assessment systems used by child protective services for decision-making. Risk assessment is the systematic collection of information for determining the degree to which a child is likely to be abused or neglected at some future point in time. There are various systems including CANTS 17B, Washington Assessment of Risk Matrix (WARM) and the Child at Risk Field System (CARF). The CANTS 17B system comprises 23 factors among five separate categories, WARM has 32 factors among seven separate categories, and the CARF has 14 factors among five separate categories. There is a considerable increase in the use of structured risk-assessment systems by child protective services to assess the potential for mistreatment of children.