The nation's child protection system (CPS) has historically focused on preventing maltreatment in high-risk families, whose children have already been maltreated. But, as Jane Waldfogel explains, it has also begun developing prevention procedures for children at lower risk--those who are referred to CPS but whose cases do not meet the criteria for…

The goal of the Case Decision Project (CDP) was to develop a method to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of program management in child protective services in Texas. At the onset of the project, workers across the state had no uniform method of obtaining case information. Therefore, an automated case investigation system was developed.…