Computer learning and risk assessment in child protection

✍ Scribed by James Little; Andrew Rixon

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 225 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0952-9136
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0852(199805/06)7:3<165::aid-car347>3.0.co;2-l

✦ Synopsis

The volume and complexity of information in child protection cases means that there can be an overwhelming number of factors which seem pertinent to decision-making but which obscure any pattern within it. This paper examines the applicability of a technique known as computer learning to the area of risk assessment in order to extract any underlying patterns. The paper proposes ®rst that there are a few key interrelated, broad-level concepts used to assess and thereby classify risk. These can be used as the basis for producing a set of rules under which a social work team operates. The classi®cation of risk made by one social work team on 20 child protection cases was analysed to ®nd underlying patterns of their decision-making. These patterns are presented in the form of `decision trees', as a way of illustrating the group's past experience in assessing risk. The results are evaluated in terms of the complexity and plausibility of the decision tree produced.