Field Center for Children’s Policy

The idea of using predictive analytics in child welfare easily conjures images of child abuse investigators targeting parents a machine deems most likely to harm their children. Because black families are so disproportionately likely to be involved with the child protection system, critics credibly argue that predictive risk modeling will only exacerbate existing racial bias.

Child welfare funding may have been blue-lined in December, but organizations across Pennsylvania are still in the red. “Releasing the funds is putting a Band-Aid on a problem that’s not quite sticking on both sides.

Results from Great Britain’s experiments in successfully reducing child poverty provide a blueprint for the U.S. to do the same, according to Columbia University researcher Jane Waldfogel. But waning enthusiasm for this initiative in England threatens its success.