Child abuse/neglect risk assessment under field practice conditions: Tests of external and temporal validity and comparison with heart disease prediction

(1) External and temporal validation results support the accuracy of the CFRA. (2) CFRA CA/N prediction accuracy parity with that for CHD prediction is encouraging, suggesting that wide use of the CFRA, properly implemented, could improve risk assessment accuracy in child protection. (3) Findings underline the importance of ensuring that no risk assessment model or method, including actuarial and consensus models and clinical judgment, is used in the field unless it has passed a test of external, or at least temporal validation.