Oregon dropping AI tool used to help decide child abuse cases – By Sally Ho & Garance Burke (Associated Press) / June 1, 2022
Child welfare officials in Oregon will stop using an algorithm to help decide which families are investigated by social workers, opting instead for a new process that officials say will make better, more racially equitable decisions.
The move comes weeks after an Associated Press review of a separate algorithmic tool in Pennsylvania that had originally inspired Oregon officials to develop their model, and was found to have flagged a disproportionate number of Black children for “mandatory” neglect investigations when it first was in place.
Oregon’s Department of Human Services announced to staff via email last month that after “extensive analysis” the agency’s hotline workers would stop using the algorithm at the end of June to reduce disparities concerning which families are investigated for child abuse and neglect by child protective services.
“We are committed to continuous quality improvement and equity,” Lacey Andresen, the agency’s deputy director, said in the May 19 email.
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