February 2010Vol. 11, No. 1Print issueSpotlight on Differential Response

Issue Spotlight

• Ohio Implements Alternative Response Pilots

  Ohio Implements Alternative Response Pilots

  In an effort to offer early child abuse and neglect prevention services to families in need, the Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services introduced a pilot program that would allow selected counties to offer alternative response (AR) as part of their regular child protective services. In July 2008, 10 Ohio counties implemented AR pilot projects in which AR was offered for accepted reports of alleged child maltreatment. The counties collected data for 18 months (through December 2009) on child safety, services, family involvement and participation, feedback from workers, and other issues.

  A team of researchers will evaluate the outcomes and share results so that the State can decide whether to expand the pilot to other counties. One positive outcome already realized was the significant enhancement made to Ohio's Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS), giving caseworkers and administrators the ability to track and manage AR cases in the system, a major milestone for the State.
  
  Prior to the pilot project's end in December 2009, the participating counties developed transition plans to institute AR as a child protection option, realizing the value it brings to Ohio families. Read more about county transition plans, Ohio's SACWIS improvements, Greene County's experience with the AR pilot program, staff coaching, and more in the October 2009 issue of Alternative Response Quarterly on the American Humane website:
  
  http://www.americanhumane.org/assets/pdfs/children/differential-response/alternative-response-oct-2009.pdf (347 KB)
  
  For more information about Ohio's alternative response pilot project, including pilot documents and resources on alternative response, visit:
  
  www.law.capital.edu/adoption/AR
  
  
   

• State Legislation on Differential Response

  State Legislation on Differential Response

  As of June 2009, 28 States have enacted differential response legislation, and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) tracks this legislation on its website. Differential response, sometimes referred to as "dual-track response," "multitrack response," or "alternative response," is an approach that allows child protective services agencies to identify the varying needs and concerns of children and families and tailor their response to reports of child abuse and neglect accordingly.
  
  The NCSL website provides a State-specific chart that lists descriptions of the current/enabling legislation and information pertaining to substantiation, central registries, immunity, confidentiality, and services.
  
  www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=17800

• Differential Response Models in Child Protective Services: Building a Greater Knowledge Base Through

  Differential Response Models in Child Protective Services: Building a Greater Knowledge Base Through

  Since the mid-1990s, States across the country have been implementing various models of differential or alternative response in child protective services (CPS). Studies have shown that implementing these models holds great promise for efforts to improve outcomes for children and their families. But the research base is limited. In order to increase its knowledge and determine whether or not differential response is an effective approach in CPS, the Children's Bureau awarded a 5-year cooperative agreement to American Humane Association and its partners, Walter R. McDonald & Associates, Inc., and the Institute of Applied Research to create the National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services (QIC-DR).

  The purposes of this project are to:

  1. Improve child welfare outcomes by implementing differential response and build cutting-edge, innovative, and replicable knowledge about differential response
  2. Enhance capacity at the local level to improve outcomes for children and families identified for suspected abuse or neglect
  3. Provide guidance on best practices in differential response

  To achieve these purposes, the QIC-DR has identified its core research question: "Is differential response an effective approach in child protective services, and, if so, what are the specific elements that make it effective?" To answer this question through research and implementation, the QIC- DR recently selected three research and demonstration projects to support. The research and demonstration project sites include:

  • Colorado (a five-county consortium), including Araphahoe, Fremont, Garfield, Jefferson, and Larimer counties
  • State of Illinois
  • Ohio (a six-county consortium) including Clark, Champaign, Madison, Montgomery, Richland, and Summit counties

  QIC-DR Resources/Products

  Over the first project year, the QIC-DR, along with the additional partnership of the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law and the National Conference of State Legislatures, conducted a national comprehensive review and needs assessment. The needs assessment leveraged existing knowledge and documentation on differential response with a gap analysis, literature review, meta-evaluation, key informant interviews, focus groups, and informational summits with diverse audiences to inform the future work of the QIC-DR and the selected research and demonstration projects. The QIC-DR has posted findings and key products from the needs assessment on its website. Current products posted include:

  • Differential Response Literature Review
  • Searchable Annotated Differential Response Bibliography
  • Differential Response in Child Protective Services: A Legal Analysis
    
  • Online Survey of State Differential Response Policies and Practices: Findings Report

  Please visit QIC-DR's website to read more about its work and the individual research and demonstration projects and to view a number of the products.
  www.differentialresponseqic.org

  For more information on the QIC-DR, visit the website, or contact the QIC at qicdr@americanhumane.org.

  Many thanks for this article to Jean Nussbaum, who serves as co-Federal Project Officer, along with Catherine Nolan, for the QIC-DR.
   

• Nevada's Progress Implementing Differential Response

  Nevada's Progress Implementing Differential Response

  Over the past 3 years, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has taken great strides to develop a differential response (DR) model for screening and investigating reports of child maltreatment. The model was first implemented in February 2007 as a pilot project in 1 Nevada county and has now expanded to 10 counties serving over 97 percent of the State's population. The Institute of Applied Research (IAR) is evaluating the project to determine the effects of DR on outcomes for children and families, to study its impact on the broader State child protection system, and to analyze cost effectiveness.
  
  Nevada's DR model is a unique public-private partnership among State/county child welfare agencies and community family resource centers (FRCs). Under the DR model, a county child protective services (CPS) agency refers child maltreatment reports to an FRC for assessment when the report is considered priority 3 according to the State's screening system and also meets the following criteria: The child is age 6 or older, the family has not had a substantiated report in the past 3 years, and the family has not previously had a child in foster care. When a report is referred, the FRC is responsible for conducting a family assessment, providing ongoing services as needed, and determining case closure. When necessary, the FRC returns the case to CPS for a traditional investigation. The DR pilot project originally included only reports of child neglect, but in June 2009 the model was expanded to include any priority 3 reports appropriate for DR.
  
  The Nevada Differential Response Pilot Project: Interim Evaluation Report was published by IAR in November 2008 to present trends, challenges, and accomplishments based on early data and initial staff interviews and family surveys. Among the findings:

  • 563 reports were referred for DR in the initial pilot period (February 2007 to September 2008).
  • Two-thirds of DR cases received some kind of services, such as emergency food services, assistance with utilities or rent, and budgeting and financial support.
  • FRC staff reported high levels of satisfaction and felt they were able to intervene effectively using the DR model.
  • Some CPS staff reported difficulty understanding the essential differences between DR and traditional investigations.
  • A majority of families served under the DR model felt better able to care for their children and deal with issues in their lives.
  • Sixty-one percent of DR cases have been closed, with only a small number returned to the county child welfare agency for investigation.

  The Interim Evaluation Report made several policy and systemic recommendations to further improve the State's DR model, including expanding eligibility to families with very young children and chronic problems, increasing the system's capacity to provide family assessment, and training CPS staff to have more direct DR responsibilities.
  
  A brief update published by the Nevada DHHS in September 2009 reported on the expansion of the DR model to serve the majority of Nevada residents, resulting in 1,489 families being assessed by an FRC. To support the improvement and expansion of the DR model, the State continues to offer DR trainings to administrative, supervisory, and frontline staff. A steering committee also meets quarterly to address policy and practice issues as they arise and to guide program modifications as the model continues expanding across the State.
  
  Download the Interim Evaluation Report, by Gary L. Siegel, L. Anthony Loman, Jerome Cline, Christine Shannon, and Lina Sapokaite, on the IAR website:
  www.iarstl.org/papers/Nevada%20Differential%20Response%20Pilot%20Project-Interim%20Report%20November%202008.pdf (737 KB)
  
  The September 2009 update on the DR model is available on the DHHS website:
  http://dhhs.nv.gov/Grants/Meetings/GMAC/GMAC%202009-10-21/GMACDifferentialResponseUpdateSeptember2009.doc (82 KB)
   

• Survey Examines States' Differential Response

  Survey Examines States' Differential Response

  A snapshot of the differential response practices, models, and child protective services (CPS) structures currently in use across the country is presented in a new publication, Online Survey of State Differential Response Policies and Practices Findings Report. The report, prepared by the National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services (QIC-DR), presents the results of a web-based survey that looked at the degree to which States have implemented differential response (DR) models in their child protection services.

  The survey was conceived as a follow-up to a 2006 study conducted by American Humane and the Child Welfare League of America. This earlier study identified the following core elements of the DR model:

  • CPS uses more than one discrete response.
  • Multiple responses are available for reports of maltreatment that are screened in and accepted.
  • A pathway assignment is determined by the presence of imminent danger, level of risk, and existing legal requirements.
  • Families can be reassigned to different pathways in response to findings from initial investigation or assessment.
  • The establishment of multiple responses is codified in statute, policy, and/or protocols.
  • Families in the assessment pathway may refuse services without consequences, as long as child safety is not compromised.
  • There is no formal determination of maltreatment for families in an assessment pathway, and services may be offered to such families without any such determination.
  • No person in an assessment pathway can be listed as a child maltreatment perpetrator in the State’s central registry.

  The questions in the survey looked at the reasons States implemented DR, funding of DR programs, and the extent to which a State's DR program incorporated the elements identified in the national study.
   
  Completed surveys from 40 States and jurisdictions revealed that 18 States had implemented a DR model. Overall, States with self-defined DR appear to be incorporating the core elements of a DR model as identified in the 2006 national study. These DR models include the following:

  • A separate pathway for screened-in and accepted reports of child maltreatment
  • Assignment to an alternate pathway(s) based on the level of risk and/or case characteristics.
  • Codification by law in most States and evident in policy and protocols in nearly all States

  The questions used in the survey are included in an appendix. The report is available online:
  
  www.differentialresponseqic.org/assets/docs/qic-dr-findings-report-jun09.pdf (374 KB)

• Protecting Children Special Issue on Differential Response

  Protecting Children Special Issue on Differential Response

  American Humane's journal, Protecting Children, devoted a double issue in 2008 to the topic of differential response. The articles describe practices, issues, and outcomes from differential response programs around the country. The articles include:

  • "Another Look at the National Study on Differential Response in Child Welfare" by Caren Kaplan and Lisa Merkel-Holguin
  • "The Parent Support Outreach Program: Minnesota’s Early Intervention Track" by David Thompson, Gary L. Siegel, and L. Anthony Loman
  • "Implementation of Differential Response in Ethnically Diverse Neighborhoods" by Amy Conley and Jill Duerr Berrick
  • "Implementation of California’s Differential Response Model in Small Counties" by Sofya Bagdasaryan, Walter Furman, and Todd Franke
  • "Outcomes for Children with Allegations of Neglect Who Receive Alternative Response and Traditional Investigations: Findings for NCANDS" by Mary Jo Ortiz, Gila R. Shusterman, and John D. Fluke
  • "Development and Field Testing of a Family Assessment Scale for Use in Child Welfare Practice Settings Utilizing Differential Response" by Raymond S. Kirk
  • "The Intersection Between Differential Response and Family Involvement Approaches" by Betty Christenson, Scott Curran, Kelli DeCook, Scott Maloney, and Lisa Merkel-Holguin
  • "Six Principles of Partnership: Building and Sustaining System-Wide Change" by Daniel P. Comer and Deborah Vassar

  The entire issue is available for free download on the American Humane website:
  
  http://www.americanhumane.org/assets/pdfs/children/protecting-children-journal/pc-23-1-2.pdf (2,839 KB)

• A Curriculum for Differential Response

  A Curriculum for Differential Response

  The California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC) at the University of California at Berkeley has developed Differential Response and Alternative Response in Diverse Communities: An Empirically Based Curriculum, intended for title IV-E graduate social work education programs and for the continuing education of child welfare agency staff. Students and staff learn about problems with the traditional child protective services (CPS) screening and referral process and the potential benefits of differential response.
  
  In California, differential response offers a more tailored response for families reported to CPS, especially those families who would be screened out but might benefit from community and/or child welfare services. The CalSWEC curriculum describes the application of this approach in Contra Costa and Alameda counties and outlines the implications for policy and practice. The goals and objectives of the curriculum are based on the CalSWEC Curriculum Competencies for Public Welfare, and each module includes an instructional guide and questions for classroom discussion.
  
  The curriculum's module on practice issues explores provider strategies and lessons learned regarding all aspects of differential response services, including client engagement and provision of social support, providing referrals to community resources, and helping to meet basic needs. Another module examines how to assess diverse communities for their readiness for differential response and includes information about racial disproportionality in child welfare, cultural competence, and case studies of six neighborhoods in which differential response was introduced.
  
  Differential Response and Alternative Response in Diverse Communities: An Empirically Based Curriculum, developed by Jill Duerr Berrick et al., is available on the CalSWEC website:
  
  www.csulb.edu/projects/ccwrl/Differential%20Response%201023.pdf (1.26 MB)