title: Child abuse and neglect: an instrument to assist with case referral decision making.
abstract: A decision-making instrument was developed to assist reporting agencies and individuals in determining which child abuse and neglect charges would require immediate reporting to a child protection agency and which could be managed initially by the reporting agency. The instrument comprises a matrix scoring system that combines the experience classification of the reporting source and the degree of harm reported. The matrix scoring system was tested for 1 year to evaluate child abuse and neglect cases reported to the New York State Central Registry and Special Services for Children. The goal of the decision-making instrument is to decrease the number of unnecessary reportings to overburdened agencies without jeopardizing the interests of the child. The instrument should assist reporting sources in developing a systematic approach to case referral decision making and should minimize the subjectivity of such decisions.
authors.affiliation: Social Work Department, Gouverneur Hospital, New York, NY 10002.
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rolon
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sachs
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D009518:New York; D012042:Registries; D012947:Social Work