Search

This article analyzes the development and use of systematic risk assessment models by child protective services agencies. The proliferation of child protection risk assessment models in more than 40 states can be seen in part as a response to the crisis engendered in child protection services (CPS) agencies by the growing number of intakes and a resource-depleted environment. Risk assessment also reflects a legislative trend that views CPS intervention as justified "only when a child has suffered specific types of maltreatment" and that has defined maltreatment "more carefully in terms of particular physical harms or injuries, sexual conduct, or severe emotional damage." Two authors have described three procedures as risk assessment: 1) categorization of cases on the basis of severity of risk; 2) "needs assessment," although the factors in this term are not necessarily those associated with the prediction of future abuse; and 3) a "process for assessing the likelihood that a given person will harm a child in the future."