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Rethinking the Functioning of Child Protective Services

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Mandatory Reporting Laws and the Identification of Severe Child Abuse and Neglect

Part of the book series: Child Maltreatment ((MALT,volume 4))

Abstract

This paper makes an argument for altering CPS decision mechanisms in a way that acknowledges and utilizes features of child and family functioning tied more directly to a research-based understanding of patterns of short- and long-term harm, as well as improvements in well-being. It is premised on the idea that specific groups or classes of families would benefit from a differentiated continuum of decision processes that can tie them more directly to the evidence-based services that would benefit them and their children more optimally. It assumes that the understanding of safety and well-being is grounded in a better evidence base than exists currently and that decision-making in CPS will become more risk based rather than being based in uncertainty. It also offers a long-term general research framework directed toward changing the CPS decisional mechanism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    >0.90 area under the receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curve, where 1.0, is completely accurate, and 0.5 is random.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) for its support in the development of aspects of the content of this chapter. We especially want to acknowledge John Mattingly at AECF for his continuing commitment to improving the systems of child protection which was the impetus for the material presented here. Portions of this chapter appear in the author’s publication: Casillas, K. and Fluke, J.D. (2014). The Case for a Needs-Based Model in Child Welfare: A Concept to Address Child Well-Being. In A. Shlonsky and R. Benbenishty (Eds.). From Evidence to Outcomes in Child Welfare: An International Reader (pp. 133–144). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Kempe Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    John D. Fluke & Katherine Casillas

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  1. John D. Fluke
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  2. Katherine Casillas
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Correspondence to John D. Fluke .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Ben Mathews

  2. Program in Pediatric Law, Policy and Ethics, Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, Aurora, Colorado, USA

    Donald C. Bross

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Fluke, J.D., Casillas, K. (2015). Rethinking the Functioning of Child Protective Services. In: Mathews, B., Bross, D. (eds) Mandatory Reporting Laws and the Identification of Severe Child Abuse and Neglect. Child Maltreatment, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9685-9_21

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