This child abuse prediction model fails poor families

If you are unable to see the message below, [click here to view](. PLUS: The physics of a UK intersection that kills cyclists, Ford’s first electric car, and NASA’s new deep-space navigation system. [View this email in your browser]( [logo]( [[WIRED Magazine]1.17.18]( Bias has always been an issue in child welfare programs. “Let’s say there was a call because the kids were home alone. Then they’re doing their investigation with mom, and she admits marijuana use,” says Catherine Volponi, director of the Juvenile Court Project. “Now you get in front of a judge who, perhaps, views marijuana as a gateway to hell.” A mom’s personal lifestyle choice just put her at risk of losing her children. Given the gravity and subjectivity of the situation, you’d think adding some data would help. And theoretically, it would. But, as Virginia Eubanks found while researching her book, [Automating Inequality]( bias has a way of creeping in—and then being excused as algorithmic objectivity. Take the Allegheny Family Screening Tool (AFST), a model used in Pittsburgh and the rest of Allegheny county that predicts how likely a child is to come to harm. But what that model considers risk factors for child abuse and neglect—things like how often you use public resources like county medical assistance, and how often your neighbors complain about you—really amount to poverty profiling. “Like racial profiling, poverty profiling targets individuals for extra scrutiny based not on their behavior but rather on a personal characteristic: They live in poverty,” writes Virginia Eubanks. “Because the model confuses parenting while poor with poor parenting, the AFST views parents who reach out to public programs as risks to their children.” Also: The physics of a UK intersection that [kills cyclists]( Ford’s first [electric car]( and NASA’s new [deep-space navigation]( system. Book Excerpt A Child Abuse Prediction Model Fails Poor Families By Virginia Eubanks Though it has been billed as a crystal ball for predicting child harm, in reality the Allegheny Family Screening Tool mostly just reports how many public resources families have consumed. Wealthier caregivers use private insurance or pay out of pocket for mental health or addiction treatment, so they are not included in the county’s database. Auto Industry Ford Finally Makes Its Move Into Electric Cars By Aarian Marshall Ford announced that it will pump $11 billion into electric vehicles in the next five years, with 24 hybrid and 16 fully electric vehicles to debut by 2022. The company said a year ago it would spend $4.5 billion on EVs by 2020; now it’s nearly doubling that commitment. Space NASA Just Proved It Can Navigate Space Using Pulsars. Where to Now? 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