S. Christopher Baird

Christopher Baird served as executive vice president of NCCD, directing the Midwest Office, from 1985 through 2010 and now serves as director of research. He has designed risk assessment, classification, and case management systems for child welfare, adult probation and parole, and juvenile justice systems. He developed and managed the National Institute of Corrections Model Probation and Parole program, which was implemented in 31 state agencies and hundreds of county probation departments throughout the United States. Chris served as principal investigator on two grants from the National Institute of Justice, including a comprehensive evaluation of the Florida Community Control Program. From 1990 to 1997, he directed NCCD’s Children’s Research Center, which developed risk assessment and decision-making systems used in child protection services for more than 50 state and county agencies in the United States and Australia. He and colleagues wrote a comprehensive evaluation of the system in Michigan assessing its impact on subsequent abuse and neglect. He directed and authored a national study funded by the Office of Child Abuse and Neglect (OCAN) that compared CPS risk assessment systems in four jurisdictions. He is currently conducting research for the Casey Foundation’s workforce initiative.