PA: Can a computer program save more children from abuse and neglect? (Includes video)
York Daily Record – June 24, 2021
When serious neglect and abuse cases happen in Allegheny County, “we review them with a fine-tooth comb with tons and tons of stakeholders, and just so often you see these cases where there’d been a call for abuse and neglect, and we screened it out,” said Erin Dalton, director of the county’s Department of Human Services. Dalton and her predecessor, Marc Cherna, set about changing that six years ago, and working with engineers in New Zealand, they built an algorithm, or predictive analysis tool, to help decision-making for the person who is screening those critical calls. It has its critics, but Dalton remains the algorithm’s biggest cheerleader.
https://www.timesonline.com/story/news/2021/06/24/allegheny-countys-child-welfare-algorithm-hoped-save-children/5318550001/