Sample selection
To formulate sample plans and data collection instruments, staff from Child Protective Services, Depen-
dency Court Legal Services (DCLS), law enforcement, and the Prosecutor’s office were interviewed
several times prior to data collection. In order to understand within-agency caseloads and case processing
it was necessary to examine: the mission and types of cases that composed the agency caseload, the
agency definition of child abuse and neglect, how cases were processed through each agency (trajectories
of flow within the agency), and what policies and procedures governed each agency for referring cases