Site selection
This study was based on one site selected using county-level data from the 41-county telephone survey
integrated with National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-3) (US Department of Health
and Human Services, 1996). A mid-size county was selected for which all aspects of the systems’ data
collection appeared to be functional and in which all informants claimed that computerized systems
existed to aid sample selection and data collection. In order to meet these criteria, the county was not
representative of all or most counties in the country. Nevertheless, by selecting a county that had existing
information systems, the likelihood of being able to track a case successfully was much greater.
In the United States Census for 1990 (US Bureau of the Census, 2002) the selected county had a
multi-racial, multi-cultural population of over 1 million persons. The median age, the unemployment
rate, and the poverty rate were about equal with that of the US as a whole. However, the rate of serious
1crimes known to police was about 1 2 times that of the entire US In addition the rate of reporting of
child maltreatment was about 25% higher than that for the nation (US Department of Health and Human
Services, 1998).
The organization of services, law enforcement agencies and court systems in the county was typical
of those in other states. The catchment area of the child protective services agency overlapped the juris-
dictions of both the municipal police and the county Sheriff resulting in ongoing relationships between
the agency and several law enforcement organizations. There were a number of child protective field
offices but only one central office with the others serving as satellites of the central office. There was one
Prosecutor’s office.