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Structured Decision Making (SDM) System

NCJ Number
240999
Date Published
2013
Length
1 page
Annotation
This online resource from the National Council on Crime & Delinquency (NCCD) presents information on NCCD's Structured Decision Making system.
Abstract
The National Council on Crime and Delinquency's (NCCD's) Structured Decision Making (SDM) system is a set of assessment instruments for use in promoting safety and well-being for children and adults most at risk for abuse. The tools in the SDM system are not used to make decisions but rather to provide professionals with a framework for use in consistent decisionmaking. This online resource from NCCD presents information on the SDM system. The resource has six main sections. The first section discusses the characteristics of the SDM system which include reliability, validity, equity, and utility. Other sections discuss how the SDM system can be used by child protection agencies and workers to promote the safety and well-being of children; how the SDM system can be used by foster care and placement support agencies and workers for making more informed decisions about foster and kinship families; how the SDM system can used by adult protection services agencies and workers in making better decisions for and with vulnerable adults; and how the SDM system can be used by employment counselors to identify participants in welfare-to-work programs who may have difficulty finding and maintaining sustainable employment. The final section of the resource presents information on the upcoming 2014 Structured Decision Making Conference.