Structuring the Decision to Accept a Child Protection Report

Abstract

Three agencies collaborated to construct, implement, and evaluate a screening and response time assessment for child protective services intake staff in Maryland. Evaluation activities included reliability testing of the assessment, a qualitative review of screening decisions conducted before and after implementation, and a survey of workers about the assessment and its implementation. Inter-rater reliability testing among field staff showed high rates of agreement for screening assessment items and the resulting decision. The findings suggest that the assessment and associated definitions can help workers make consistent screening decisions when provided with the same information.

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