ABSTRACT
Child welfare practitioners are increasingly employing formal and structured risk assessment processes to predict child vulnerability or to improve case decision making. In general, research has neither proved conclusively which set of risk factors are most critical for evaluating risk within a family and community, nor has it resolved the controversy regarding the importance of professional training and experience in risk assessment procedures and processes. There is, however, a beginning recognition of the importance of collaborative strategies that bring community representatives to the assessment table along with the traditional professionals. The author argues for urgency in the pursuit of a dialogue that examines varied definitions of harm and risk for children, and the implications of those definitions for cultural conflict, screening and intake, and resource allocation.
