Maryland’s Social Services Administration sought to ensure reliable decision making among workers screening allegations of child maltreatment for further investigation by 1) developing a structured screening and response time assessment; 2) implementing the assessment statewide after piloting its use in a metropolitan region; and 3) evaluating the impact of implementation on screening decisions. Evaluation activities included reliability testing of the assessment, a qualitative review of screening decisions conducted before and after implementation of the assessment, and a survey of workers about the assessment and its implementation. Findings showed that the screening and response time assessment helped workers reach reliable decisions given the same information, and in combination with other decision supports, improved workers’ case narrative explaining screening and response time decisions.
