Child Well-Being Scales: A Critique

Child maltreatment assessment and recidivism : a study of Kentucky child protective services.

“…Any such agreement, however, does not generally extend to the criteria for assessing these domains (Wolfe, 1985;Seaberg, 1988).…”

“…With a million children a year being abused, evaluating the likelihood of maltreatment is a key decision in the child protective service process (DePanfilis, 1996;English, 1998;Fuller, Wells, & Cotton, 2001;Haskett, Scott, & Fann, 1995;Lyons, Doueck, Koster, Witzky, & Kelly, 1999;McDonald & Marks, 1991;Seaberg, 1988). Risk assessment-based decision-making, has been used successfully in the fields of juvenile and adult corrections, but is relatively new to child abuse prevention (Depanfilis, 1996;Haskett, Scott, & Fann, 1995;Lyons, Doueck, Koster, Witzky, & Kelly, 1999;McCurdy, 1995;McDonald & Marks, 1991;Nasuti, 1998;USDHHS, April 1993;Wald & Woolverton, 1990).…”

“…A child's well being is the primary issue in the decision of whether a child can safely remain in the home (Seaberg, 1988). Likewise, the child's well being can be a measure of program success or failure.…”

“…Fuller, Wells, and Cotton (2001), Lyons, Doueck, Koster, Witzky, and Kelly (1999), Magura and Moses (1986), Seaberg (1988) and Wald and Woolverton (1990) cautioned against sole dependence upon a risk assessment score for decision-making. They emphasized that risk scales should be used as part of a thorough assessment in making informed casework decisions.…”

“…Defining child well being, however, was not without its difficulties. Child welfare agencies that attempted to develop valid and reliable measures to evaluate progress were confronted with a lack of consensus on desired objectives and difficulties in precise measurement of child well being (Magura & Moses, 1980;Nasuti, 1998;Seaberg, 1988). While states struggled with developing systems for managing child protective services, the number of children being abused was rising at an alarming rate.…”