Child abuse and neglect: an instrument to assist with case referral decision making.

A decision-making instrument was developed to assist reporting agencies and individuals in determining which child abuse and neglect charges would require immediate reporting to a child protection agency and which could be managed initially by the reporting agency. The instrument comprises a matrix scoring system that combines the experience classification of the reporting source and the degree of harm reported. The matrix scoring system was tested for 1 year to evaluate child abuse and neglect cases reported to the New York State Central Registry and Special Services for Children. The goal of the decision-making instrument is to decrease the number of unnecessary reportings to overburdened agencies without jeopardizing the interests of the child. The instrument should assist reporting sources in developing a systematic approach to case referral decision making and should minimize the subjectivity of such decisions.