RESEARCH ON SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE Glisson et al. / SHORTFORM ASSESSMENT FOR CHILDREN The Shortform Assessment for Children: An Assessment and Outcome Measure for Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice

This study describes the design and psychometric characteristics of the Shortform Assessment for Children (SAC). The SAC is an efficient and easy-to-use tool for monitoring the overall men-tal health and psychosocial functioning of children age 5 to 18 who are served by child welfare and juvenile justice systems. The one-page 48-item instrument was developed with the support of the National Institute of Mental Health to describe internalizing (withdrawn, anxious, depressed) and externalizing (aggressive, antisocial, violent) profiles of children in both home/residential and school/classroom settings. Psychometric data supporting the reliability and validity of the SAC are presented for a sample of 3,790 children served by one state’s child welfare and juvenile justice system. In many child welfare and juvenile justice systems, case managers do not use standardized mental health measures in conducting assessments of the chil-dren they serve or in monitoring the outcomes of the services they provide. The consequences of case managers omitting standardized mental health measures are that mental health plays a limited role in case management deci-sions and children receive inappropriate placements and referrals. Althoug