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Home > Reducing Re-referral in Unsubstantiated Child Protective Services Cases: Research to Practice > Reducing Re-referral in Unsubstantiated Child Protective Services Cases: Research to Practice: 2 - Implications for Practice
Reducing Re-referral in Unsubstantiated Child Protective Services Cases: Research To Practice
Grantee Lessons Learned
Author(s): Children's Bureau (DHHS)
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| Year Published: 2003 |
2 - Implications for Practice
Research suggests that a case finding of unsubstantiated does not necessarily mean no child maltreatment occurred—other factors, including State policy regarding required levels of evidence, play a role. Some at-risk children and families who come to the attention of the child welfare system and who are in need of services are not receiving services because of a finding of unsubstantiation.
Research also points to identifiable factors that put families at greater risk (such as younger parents and those with fewer resources). Using knowledge gained from research to target services to these families may help agencies maximize the impact of limited resources. This approach also can be used to develop targeted preventive services (such as a home visiting program for very young parents who lack support systems) that may keep families from ever being referred to the child welfare system in the first place.
The following are some examples of strategies that are suggested by the research findings and the work of experienced child welfare practitioners. These suggestions may help agencies more effectively target services to children and families who need them most. Some of these strategies have not yet been formally tested or validated; more research will be needed to determine if they lead to better outcomes for children and families, and under what circumstances.
2.1 Assess Risk More Effectively
Better outcomes for families may result when an assessment of risk, rather than an investigation of a specific alleged maltreatment incident, drives service provision. Research findings about the impact of case factors on a child's risk of harm can be used in a variety of ways to improve practice and achieve better outcomes for children. While the issue of safety was not addressed specifically in these research studies, assessing safety and developing safety plans (along with risk assessment) will further enhance the protection of children. Some of the following suggestions about risk assessment might also apply to safety assessment:
- Use a risk assessment instrument. In light of the number of risk factors and other concerns caseworkers must keep in mind, effective risk assessment instruments help caseworkers avoid overlooking critical items. A number of instruments are now available. Agencies are encouraged to consider those based upon research and continually evaluated and refined as new research emerges.
- Assess risk throughout the life of the case. Whatever tool is used, assessing children and families throughout the life of a case, not just during an initial investigation, will help caseworkers evaluate the success of interventions and ensure more positive outcomes for children.
- Provide ongoing risk training. Caseworkers will need training to understand what will be, for some, a significant philosophical shift from an incident-based system to a risk-based system. Ongoing training on issues such as how to engage clients in services or how to assess the interaction of individual risk factors in a specific family situation is recommended.
- Ensure independent internal review of high-risk cases. Certain high-risk cases identified in the research (e.g., multiple prior referrals, younger child) may benefit from an additional agency reviewer.
- Create an agency risk specialist. Some agencies dedicate a skilled staff member to deal solely with risk issues. These staff members serve as consultants to caseworkers and others in the agency, review high-risk cases, and provide informal and ongoing training.
2.2 Provide Services to At-risk Families in Unsubstantiated Cases
Some families who need and are likely to benefit from services do not receive them because the system does not provide resources for offering services to families in unsubstantiated cases. Some States are finding creative ways to ensure that services are available to these families, including:
- Create a third dispositional category. At least 14 States offer a third dispositional category (such as "inconclusive" or "unable to determine") for cases that can be neither substantiated nor unsubstantiated.18 Families whose cases fall into this third category may be more likely to participate in supportive services, when offered, than families whose cases are unsubstantiated.
- Employ an alternative response model. In these models (sometimes called "dual track" or "flexible response" models), a decision is made at intake or screening to send cases with less risk to a more service-oriented track and cases with more identifiable risk to a more traditional investigative process. As a result, agency staff is able to devote more attention to investigating critical cases, while low-risk cases are offered voluntary services.
- Use volunteers. Provision of formal therapy by a professional is critical in some cases, especially where significant mental health issues are involved. However, in many cases, services could be provided by well-trained volunteers who may be better received by families as "friendly visitors." Many faith- and community-based organizations have the resources to provide space and volunteers for such programs. Child welfare agencies could provide leadership and training. Despite start-up costs, these services often prove cost effective for agencies in the long term. Services provided by volunteers also mean more services available to more families, and families offered services in this way may be more likely to engage in them.
2.3 Provide the Appropriate Service
There is no "cookie cutter" model that works for all types of cases or all families. Models tailored to specific types of abuse or neglect, or models that acknowledge that cases of one type frequently re-refer as a different type, may prove more effective. (The type of maltreatment alleged in second or subsequent referrals is most often neglect, regardless of the type of maltreatment alleged in the initial referral.19) Families often have needs that are far beyond the specific incident for which they are referred to the CPS agency. Ideally all services would be designed to be family-centered, as this model has been found to be more effective. Strategies may include:
- Re-think services for neglect. Research findings regarding the prevalence of re-referral in neglect cases suggest that more services may need to be developed specifically to address the multiple needs in neglect cases. For example, researchers in one study suggest concrete services (e.g., providing food, paying utility bills, providing clothing) alone, without associated supportive services (e.g., counseling, parenting classes) and training to use concrete services appropriately, may not be productive with this population.20
- Provide longer-term services. Research indicates that longer-term services may be more effective. To expect significant change in the very short period of a few weeks may be expecting too much too quickly. Breaking the cycle of child abuse and neglect may take more time.
- Support kinship care. Children in kinship care retain family ties and, according to the research, are less likely to be re-referred to the child welfare system. More resources are needed to help relatives caring for children. Such resources might include financial grants, medical insurance, child care, and support services. Some agencies designate a small number of caseworkers as kinship specialists whose role is to develop resources, provide support groups, and link caregivers to existing resources. Other agencies have hired actual kinship caregivers to provide supportive services as relative advocates.
18 Fluke, p. 25. back
19 Drake, p. 154. back
20 Drake, p. 184. back
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