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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.

Infants and toddlers are at increased risk for severe/fatal abuse, often at the hands of male perpetrators. This paper examined whether child maltreatment cases involving younger children receive more casework services, overall caseworker activity (e.g., home visits, phone contacts), and are more likely to be substantiated, particularly if a male perpetrator is involved. The randomly selected sample consisted of 293 child abuse and neglect reports in a large county in Western New York in 1993. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that younger children generally receive more overall services and caseworker activity, and that while age makes a significant contribution after the decision has been made to substantiate a case, it does not have the same effect on the initial decision of whether or not to substantiate. Gender of the perpetrator did not reliably predict caseworker attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]