Successful risk assessment means vulnerable children will get the protection they need without undue government intrusion into family life. Studies show that research-based actuarial risk assessment models and consensus-based risk assessment models can produce consistent and accurate ratings of risk. Implementing risk assessment systems, however, can be difficult. Child welfare workers may not use the systems as intended but may be willing to implement consensus-based models because they may offer a greater sense of control over the risk assessment process and because case information items they contain may be more intuitively appealing. Issues of culture are important in assessing the risk of maltreatment recurrence and other case outcomes. It may be possible to develop risk assessment models to accurately forecast important case outcomes, even with members of different racial and cultural groups. Future research should examine the possibility that different pieces of case information and different risk assessment systems may be needed at different decisions points in the life of a child welfare case. In addition, research is required to demonstrate the consistency and accuracy of risk assessment systems used to forecast case outcomes. 24 references