Under the right conditions—fiscal austerity, a governor looking to downsize public agencies, or a rash of child deaths—the AFST could easily become a machine for automatically removing children from their homes. It wouldn’t even require reprogramming the model. Today, if a family’s risk score exceeds 20, CYF must open an investigation. Tomorrow, a score of 20 might trigger an emergency removal. Or a score of 10 … or of 5.
