EBP Exchange - UMB School of Social Work

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1. Keith S. Howard - November 16, 2007

Differential Response

It is important for child welfare agencies to be able to effectively engage the families they serve. Many families view CPS investigations as adversarial and do not fully participate in services. With the growing number of reports of child maltreatment, (www.childtreandsdatabank.org) child welfare agencies must develop new strategies to assess and engage families. This will allow for more productive case management of maltreatment referrals and result in overall better outcomes for children and families.
Differential response is a fairly new model of engaging families that are reported to child welfare agencies for child maltreatment. There are several variations of differential response and it has been implemented in over 20 states and other areas throughout the world (Holguin, 2006). Differential response utilizes a comprehensive assessment done during the initial investigation of a case to streamline the response by the child welfare agency. A case that is substantiated for more serious categories of child maltreatment (i.e. sexual abuse, physical abuse etc.) receives the traditional approach to CPS investigations. Other cases are screened out after this assessment and the families are offered community based services. These services are tailored to the individual needs of each family.
After searching the California Evidence Based Clearinghouse, the University of Maryland Evidence Based Practice Blog, and the Campbell Collaboration, I could not find ratings for any child welfare agencies that employ differential response. However, there is much research written on the effectiveness of differential response. In fact, according to the Institute of Applied Research, differential response is rated as a promising child welfare initiative.
Evaluation of Minnesota and Missouri’s programs has shown that children and families have better outcomes when a differential response is used in comparison to traditional CPS investigations. A study evaluated cases reported in 2002 to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) from states that offered a differential response and a traditional investigation of its’ child welfare cases. The outcomes of children who received a differential response were compared to those who received a traditional CPS investigation. Children who received an alternative response were less likely to have a subsequent report or investigation.

References

Child Trends Data Bank (2003). http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/indicators/40ChildMaltreatment.cfm

Lohman and Siegel (2005). Alternative Response in Minnesota: Findings of the Program Evaluation. Protecting Children, 20 (2-3), 78-92.

Loman, L. A., (2005). Differential response improves traditional investigations: Criminal arrests for severe physical and sexual abuse. St. Louis: Institute of Applied Research.

Merkel-Holguin (2005). Differential Response: A Common Sense Reform in Child Welfare. Protecting Children, 20 (2-3), 2-4.

Minnesota Department of Human Services (2004). Minnesota Alternative Response evaluation: A review of pilot project findings from 2001-2004. St. Louis Institute of Applied Research.

Shusterman, G., Fluke, J., Hollinshead, D., & Yuan, Y. T.Alternative Responses to Child Maltreatment: findings from NCANDS. Protecting Children, 20 (2-3), 32-43.