For family law attorney Robin Frank, defending parents at one of their lowest points — when they are at risk of losing their children — has never been easy.
In the past, she knew what she was up against when squaring off against child protective services in family court. Now she worries she’s fighting something she can’t see: an opaque algorithm whose statistical calculations help social workers decide which families will have to endure the rigors of the child welfare system, and which will not.
