Using Algorithms & Artificial Intelligence in Child Welfare

This article is part of a series on the Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS), which states can build with federal funding help to replace an antiquated data and management process. As another barrier to bypass when it comes to adopting new technology for the Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) legislation and Family First Prevention Services Act, let's take a moment to consider the role of algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) in child welfare. As a statistics professor there is nothing that drives me more bonkers than hearing people inflate -- if not fictionalize -- the power of their analysis. And quite honestly, from what I have heard from top-level administrators I have met with in recent months, I have a fear too many states are being misguided into thinking they can buy a CCWIS system equipped with some pre-programmed miraculous predictive abilities guaranteeing each youth's safe placement. If you have been reading this series of articles, as you probably have surmised, I think this accountability-driven change opportunity should be capitalized on in order to exceed your wildest dreams when it comes to caring for kids.