Decisions
Vulnerable Children Need All Options
West Virginia’s Department of Human Services appears to be looking not just for more people to support its mission, but also for better tools. DoHS Bureau of Social Services Commissioner Jeff Pack told WV MetroNews the state has contracted with Evident Change to develop a Structured Decision Making tool to support those screening alleged abuse and neglect cases.
Now the Child Protective Services supervisor in charge of reviewing the facts tries to decide whether the allegations are true and/or meet the definition of abuse or neglect.
“Honestly, oftentimes that’s a little subjective,” Pack told MetroNews. “We do our level best to apply the standard uniformly but what the Structured Decision Making tool does is it creates a method whereby it can bring further consistency to those screening decisions and ultimately it ought to lead us to a place where we’re investigating things that we really need to investigate.”
According to Pack, the model doesn’t just come with a yes or no option, but also the possibility that reports indicate a family in trouble.
“The differentiated response will provide support and resources outside of the child welfare system to ensure that the family is stabilized and doesn’t arrive at the point where they need CPS involvement,” Pack said.
It is expected to be about a year and a half before the tool is completed for the Mountain State.
Meanwhile, Pack told MetroNews the worker vacancy rate for CPS is down below 20%.
That is wonderful news, and surely the humans are receiving as much attention and development as is going toward a SDM tool. Because the bottom line is such an addition must be nothing more than a tool.
If Evident Change’s product reduces the negative effect on our children from too much human error and poor judgment, it will be a welcomed addition. But decisions must never be made based purely on the SDM tool’s verdict. Finding the right balance between human and machine will be critical if we are to get this right for our most vulnerable kids.