title: Substantiation of reported child abuse or neglect: predictors and implications.
abstract: Underreporting and overreporting of suspected child abuse and neglect cases reduce the efficiency of child protection services. We used all the reports in South Australia for 1988-1989 (N = 3,228) to study the determinants of the decision by child protection workers to register a reported incident as being one of child abuse and neglect. Logistic regression showed that registration (substantiation) was predictable from two variables: the age of the alleged victim and the caseworker's estimate of severity. This latter variable needs investigation, as despite its crucial role we have no information on how caseworkers form a judgment about severity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide, South Australia.
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Winefield
authors.forename: P W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Bradley
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013021:South Australia / Q000453:epidemiology