Following the requirements of the QIC-DR, each of the three selected research and
demonstration sites are required to design and implement a comprehensive evaluation that
seeks to answer the following core questions:
- Are children whose families participate in the non-investigation pathway as safe
as or safer than children whose families participate in the investigation pathway?
- How is the non-investigation pathway different from the investigation pathway in
terms of family engagement, caseworker practice and services provided?
- What are the cost and funding implications to the child protection agency of the
implementation and maintenance of a differential response approach?
To answer these questions, as well as others, the Illinois Differential Response
evaluation consist of a randomized control experimental design with qualitative elaboration
and pre-test/post-test comparisons of worker and agency contextual factors. Highlights
of the evaluation design include:
-
Contextual factors of worker background, training, satisfaction, and attitudes toward
child protection and differential response, organizational culture and climate, and
service availability will be assessed prior to and following implementation.
- A process evaluation will thoroughly document the steps taken to implement Differential
Response throughout the state, including detailed documentation of all steering committee
meetings and decisions, training development, model fidelity, identification of
implementation barriers and resolutions, and case tracking and cost data.
- Outcome data will be collected through a mixed-methods approach that includes
administrative data collection; exit surveys completed by the parents served through the
two pathways; focus groups and structured interviews with caseworkers, supervisors,
administrators, community providers, and parents; and naturalistic observation of
caseworker-family interactions in both the investigation and non-investigation pathways.
Data collection began in late 2010 and will continue through 2013. Presentations and reports
related to the Differential Response evaluation in Illinois will be added to this page, as well
as the main CFRC publications page,
as they become available. Child welfare practitioners and
other child welfare stakeholders interested in keeping up-to-date with the Illinois Differential
Response demonstration project and evaluation should check this page frequently and sign up for
the CFRC newsletter to get reports as soon as they become available.
Related Publications
| Nov 2012 / Presentation |  The Family Voice in the Evaluation of Differential Response | by Tamara Fuller, Raquel Ellis, Julie Murphy, and Marc Winokur | Topics: Child Welfare Practice | | Family perspectives are often overlooked when data is collected in child welfare proigram evaluations. To elicit the family voice from caregivers involved with Child Protective Services in Differential Response systems in Illinois, Colorado, and Ohio, the evaluators designed and administered a family exit survey. This presentation, given at the 7th Annual Conference on Differential Response in Child Welfare, describes the instrument development process and presents preliminary findings. The presentation also focuses on special considerations when collecting data from child welfare populations, including the importance of cognitive testing and strategies for enhancing response rates. Finally, results of a qualitative study with families conducted in Illinois are presented. Download » |
| Apr 2012 / Presentation | | Differential Response: Sounds Great! But Does it Work? | by Tamara Fuller | Topics: Child Welfare Practice | | Presented at the 2012 Family Impact Seminar and Council on Contemporary Families (CCF) annual conference. As more and more states adopt Differential Response and other front-end child welfare system reforms, it is important to stay informed of the current evidence base for these practices. This presentation reviews the most recent evidence on the effectiveness of Differential response in relationship to: family engagement and satisfaction, service delivery, repeat maltreatment, family functioning and well-being, and cost-effectiveness. The importance of continued rigorous evaluation of Differential Response is emphasized. Download » |
| Mar 2012 / Report | | Differential Response in Illinois: 2011 Site Visit Report | by Tamara Fuller, Kathleen Kearney, Sandra Lyons | Topics: Child Welfare Practice, Program Evaluation, Safety | | This report summarizes information on the implementation of Differential Response (DR) in Illinois by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) as of July 1, 2011. The State of Illinois is one of three sites selected by the Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services (QIC-DR) to implement and evaluation a DR program, and the only one of the three to implement DR statewide. The Illinois Site Visit Report examines the exploration and adoption phases of DR implementation in Illinois; provides a detailed description of the DR program that was developed; presents findings on the fidelity of DR practice to the program described in policy and statute; and assesses the core competency and organizational drivers used in the first year of project development. Information for this report was collected through three primary methods: (1) document review, including legislation, rules, procedures, protocols, and contracts; (2) statewide focus groups with both workers and supervisors who provided DR services and conducted child protective investigations; and (3) individual interviews and a focus group with key informants critical to DR implementation and program development. Download » |
| Mar 2012 / Report | | Differential Response in Illinois: 2011 Site Visit Report Executive Summary | by Tamara Fuller, Kathleen Kearney, Sandra Lyons | Topics: Child Welfare Practice, Program Evaluation, Safety | | This executive summary provides a brief summary of the full Differential Response 2011 Site Visit Report. It includes an overview of the DR Program that was implemented statewide in Illinois on November 1, 2010. It also summarizes findings from the site visit data collection that occurred in June 2011. The Illinois Site Visit Report examines the exploration and adoption phases of DR implementation in Illinois; provides a detailed description of the DR program that was developed; presents findings on the fidelity of DR practice to the program described in policy and statute; and assesses the core competency and organizational drivers used in the first year of project development. Download » |
| Jan 2012 / Research Brief | | An Introduction to Differential Response | by Tamara Fuller | Topics: Child Welfare Administration and Policy, Safety | | In November 2010, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services implemented a Differential Response (DR) approach to child protective services. The Department was also selected as one of three site funded to conduct of rigorous evaluation of the implementation and outcomes of DR, and the Children and Family Research Center was selected as the local site evaluator. This brief describes the Differential Response program that was implemented in Illinois and provides an overview of the comprehensive evaluation. Download » |
| Nov 2011 / Presentation | | "They Treated Me Like a Real Person": Family Perspectives on Effective Engagement Strategies | by Tamara Fuller & Megan Paceley | Topics: Child Welfare Practice | | Despite being a central concept of most family-centered service interventions, including Differential Response, very little is known about the best ways to engage families in child welfare services. The small amount of literature that exists typically focuses on engaging families in mental health or substance abuse treatment, rather than the mandated or involuntary services often provided by child welfare. What little evidence has been collected within child welfare points to very low or uneven levels of parent engagement, even within interventions designed to encourage parent participation. This presentation highlighted the results of a qualitative study of family engagement strategies used by both DR caseworkers and investigators in Illinois. Individual interviews were conducted with approximately 40 caregivers who provided in-depth accounts of their experiences and responses. Responses were transcribed and analyzed to reveal those strategies that were most effective (and least effective) in making families feel engaged. Download » |
| Nov 2011 / Presentation | | Understanding Families Involved in Differential Response in Illinois | by Ji-Young Kang | Topics: Child Welfare Practice | | This study tries to understand families' existing stressors at the case opening in DR in Illinois. It presents the amount and types of stressors families have at the case opening in DR based on phone surveys with caregivers in Illinois DR. Download » |
| Apr 2011 / Presentation | | Evaluating Differential Response: Why Bother? | by Tamara Fuller | Topics: Child Welfare Practice | | The State of Illinois implemented Differential Response (DR) on November 1, 2010, and is rigorously evaluating both the implementation process and the intended and unintended outcomes of the intervention. The DR evaluation is comprehensive, including multiple surveys, focus groups, interviews, and administrative data collection. The amount of time and effort required of such evaluation can be a burden on front-line staff, who are often called upon to help with the data collection. This presentation, given at the four regional Differential Response summits in April 2010, explained the importance of evaluation and the valuable information that will result from careful data collection efforts. Download » |
| Nov 2010 / Presentation | | Putting it All Together: Lessons Learned from Implementing Differential Response in Illinois | by Womazetta Jones, William Wolfe, Tamara Fuller, & Kathleen Kearney | Topics: Child Welfare Practice | | This presentation describes the lessons learned from the first year of statewide implementation of Differential Response in Illinois. Highlights from the lessons learned included the importance of engaging key stakeholders in a collaborative planning process in determining program design; recognizing the role of core implementation drivers in establishing a successful model; modifying and utilizing SACWIS for effective data collection; and designing a statewide randomized control trial to inform both child protection policy and practice. Presented at the Fifth Annual Conference on Differential Response in Child Welfare, Anaheim, CA, November 10, 2010. Download » |
| Jul 2010 / Presentation | | RCT Evaluations of Differential Response: Creating Data Resources | by Brett Brown, Kathy Chase, William Wolfe, Womazetta Jones, Tamara Fuller & Tony Loman | Topics: Child Welfare Administration and Policy | | Differential response (DR) is a promising child welfare reform being rigorously evaluated in a number of states using random control trials (RCT). This workshop will present work from ongoing and recently completed RCT evaluations of DR. Issues covered will include: modifications to child welfare administrative data systems to accommodate random assignment, tracking cases, and DR data collection; developing complementary non-administrative data resources for evaluation; data design for cross-site comparisons; and successful strategies for promoting cooperative work between SACWIS staff, evaluators, and program personnel. Presented at the 13th National Child Welfare Data and Technology Conference, Washington DC, July 20, 2010. Download » |
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