RESEACH FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT ARE PERPETRATED BY PERSONS WHO HAVE UNMET EMOTIONAL NEEDS AND WHO ARE LIVING UNDER STRESSFUL CONDITIONS. BY ALLEVIATING STRESSFUL CONDITIONS AND PROBLEMS IN THE FAMILY, THE INCIDENCE OF CHILD ABUSE WILL DECREASE. IN ORDER TO ASSIST THE CLIENT AND SOCIAL WORKER IN IDENTIFYING THE FAMILIAL CONFLICTS OR EMOTIONAL DEFICITS, AND IN DEVELOPING A TREATMENT PLAN FOR MEETING THESE NEEDS, THE GOAL ATTAINMENT SCALING (GAS) METHOD IS SUGGESTED. THE GAS METHOD CONSISTS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDIVIDUALIZED TREATMENT PLAN WITH A NUMBER OF SPECIFIC GOALS FOR THE CLIENT. USING THE MAJOR AREAS OF CLIENT NEED AS A GUIDE, THE CLIENT AND SOCIAL WORKER JOINTLY IDENTIFY THE CLIENT'S NEEDS AND DEVELOP A GOAL-ORIENTED TREATMENT PLAN FOR SATISFYING THESE NEEDS. THESE GOALS, THEREFORE, SHOULD CONCENTRATE ON THE SOLUTION OF THE STRESS-PRODUCING PROBLEMS THAT SEEM TO PRECIPITATE ABUSE AND NEGLECT, AS WELL AS POINT A DIRECTION FOR TRANSFORMING THE ENTIRE FAMILY'S BEHAVIOR PATTERNS FROM NEGATIVE TO POSITIVE. GAS PROVIDES A BASIS FOR THE MEASUREMENT AND CONSEQUENT EVALUATION OF A THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT PLAN. EACH GOAL IS RELATED TO A GRADED SERIES OF LIKELY OUTCOMES AND A SPECIFIC IDENTIFIABLE ACTION OR INDICATOR IS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH OUTCOME. GOALS MAY BE ASSIGNED WEIGHTS TO REFLECT DIFFERING RELATIVE IMPORTANCE. THE GAS PROCESS PROVIDES A BASIS FOR AN INFORMATION SYSTEM THAT SUPPORTS THE DECISIONMAKING AND PLANNING EFFORTS OF ALL PARTICIPANTS IN THE SYSTEM. INSTEAD OF EMBEDDING THE INFORMATION IN A LENGTHY NARRATIVE OR CASE HISTORY FILE, THE RELEVANT DATA WILL BE READILY AVAILABLE IN A STANDARDIZED FORMAT AS ILLUSTRATED IN THE CLIENT INFORMATION AND GOAL FILE. PROBABLY THE GREATEST BENEFITS PROVIDED BY AN INFORMATION SYSTEM ARE THE REPORTS THAT CAN BE GENERATED TO FACILITATE DECISIONMAKING AND PLANNING AT ALL LEVELS IN THE CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT SERVICE SYSTEM. TABULAR DATA PRESENT A SAMPLE GAS; AN ACTIVITY ANALYSIS FOR CONFIRMING A CASE OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT; AND A CLIENT INFORMATION AND GOAL FILE. REFERENCES ARE APPENDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--DJM)