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Risk Assessment: What Do We Know? Findings From Three Research Studies on Children Reported to Child Protective Services (From Children in the Shadows: The Face of Children in Neglecting Families, P 85-111, 1995, Esther Wattenberg, ed. -- See NCJ-161723)

NCJ Number
161726
Author(s)
D English
Date Published
1995
Length
27 pages
Annotation
While many questions about causes and effects of child neglect remain unanswered, a review of the literature on child neglect and findings of three research studies of neglecting families in Washington clearly document certain effects and illustrate policy and practice implications related to families who are reported to and served by child protective services.
Abstract
The literature review identifies several risk factors associated with child neglect, including demographic, parental, child, and socioeconomic factors. Two research studies concerned with the disposition and outcome of child neglect cases indicate most cases are screened out of the child protection system without even an investigation or are classified as low risk and thus receive minimal if any services. The third research study reveals two important findings: (1) certain characteristics and risk factors tend to be present in neglecting families; and (2) child protective service caseworkers tend to miss some of the significant risk factors and the evidence of neglect in their cases. The Washington Risk Assessment Model is described as an instrument for assessing seven risk factors: child characteristics, maltreatment incident characteristics, chronicity, parent-caretaker characteristics, parent-child interaction, socioeconomic characteristics, and alleged perpetrator access. A risk factor matrix is appended. 55 references and 10 tables