• Julie L Halverson, Jesse Rio Russell, and Colleen Kerwin.
• National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 426 S. Yellowstone Drive, United States; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Population Health Sciences, 610 Walnut Street, Room 707, Madison, WI 53726, United States. Electronic address: jlhalverson2@wisc.edu.
• Child Abuse Negl. 2018 Aug 1; 82: 102-111.

AbstractThe mission and responsibility of child protective services (CPS) is to investigate maltreatment; intervene to protect children from harm; and promote safety, permanency, and well-being (DePanfilis & Salus, 2003; Goldman, Salus, Wolcott, & Kennedy, 2003). In 2015, approximately 7.2 million children in the United States were referred to CPS agencies, and 3.4 million children had an investigation or received an alternative response (US Department of Health & Human Services, 2017). Fluke, Shusterman, Hollinshead, and Yuan (2005) found that about one third of children with an allegation of maltreatment would have at least one re-report within a five-year period. Research indicates that the rates of child maltreatment or changes in indicators of child maltreatment have remained unchanged over time (Gilbert et al., 2012). Despite policies aimed at reducing or preventing maltreatment, the development of CPS systems across the United States, and a CPS workforce, the aggregate effects of the CPS system, services, and worker efforts are not well understood.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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