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An algorithm that screens for child neglect raises concerns

People walk to the Family Law Center in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. Child welfare officials in Allegheny County say the cutting-edge algorithmic tool – which is capturing attention around the country – uses data to support agency workers as they try to protect children from neglect. The nuanced term can include everything from inadequate housing to poor hygiene. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Case work supervisor Jessie Schemm looks over the first screen of software used by workers who field calls at an intake call screening center for the Allegheny County Children and Youth Services, in Penn Hills, Pa. Child welfare officials in the county say the cutting-edge algorithmic tool – which is capturing attention around the country – uses data to support agency workers as they try to protect children from neglect. The nuanced term can include everything from inadequate housing to poor hygiene. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) The moon sets behind homes in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. Around the country, as child welfare agencies use or consider algorithmic tools like in Allegheny County, an Associated Press review has identified a number of concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Family law attorney Robin Frank signs a birthday card to send to a former client, in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. She keeps a birthday calendar for the children she’s helped and sends them handwritten cards to remember times when things went right. Frank is still trying to untangle how, exactly, Allegheny County’s algorithm is impacting each client she shepherds through the system. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Nico'Lee Biddle, a former foster care kid turned therapist, social worker and policy advocate, talks about the use of data-driven algorithms outside one of the county's Children, Youth and Families offices in North Versailles, Pa., on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. "This shows when you have technology designed by humans, the bias is going to show up in the algorithms," says Biddle, who has worked for nearly a decade in child welfare, including as a family therapist and foster care placement specialist in Allegheny County. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) Workers field calls at an intake call screening center for the Allegheny County Children and Youth Services office in Penn Hills, Pa. on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. Incidents of potential neglect are reported to Allegheny County’s child protection hotline. The reports go through a screening process where the algorithm calculates the child’s potential risk and assigns it a score. Social workers then use their discretion to decide whether to investigate those concerns. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) The Family Law Center in Pittsburgh is seen on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Around the country, as child welfare agencies use or consider algorithmic tools like in Allegheny County, an Associated Press review has identified a number of concerns about the technology, including questions about its reliability and its potential to harden racial disparities in the child welfare system. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Attorney Robin Frank walks to the Family Law Center in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. The job is never easy, but in the past she knew what she was up against when squaring off against child protection services in family court. Now, she worries she’s fighting something she can’t see: an opaque algorithm whose statistical calculations help social workers decide which families will endure the rigors of the child welfare system, and which will not. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Attorney Robin Frank speaks with a paralegal at their office in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. Frank, a family law attorney in Pittsburgh, is still trying to untangle how, exactly, Allegheny County’s algorithm is impacting each client she shepherds through the system. "There's no way to prove it – that's the problem," Frank says. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Attorney Robin Frank poses for a photograph outside the Family Law Center in Pittsburgh, Thursday, March 17, 2022. A longtime family law attorney, Frank fights for parents at one of their lowest points – when they risk losing their children. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)