CPS Operations and Risk Assessment in Child Abuse Cases Receiving Services: Initial Findings from the Pittsburgh Service Delivery Study

Abstract

The Pittsburgh Service Delivery Study (PSDS) documents the service delivery experiences and outcomes of 90 families referred to Child Protective Services (CPS) following allegations of child physical or sexual abuse. In addition to describing the sample and methods, this article examines the psychometric characteristics of CPS caseworkers' risk assessment and subgroup differences in risk parameters. Findings revealed variability in the timeliness of worker decisions and good correspondence between sources for abuse classification. Risk assessment reports for a subset of cases were virtually unrelated to selected clinical functioning measures. Several risk parameters differentiated physically and sexually abusive families, which, collectively, correctly classified most of the cases. The findings provide a basis for understanding some of the operations of CPS and their role in the service delivery system.