Differential Response family assessments: listening to what parents say about service helpfulness.

An increasing number of Child Protective Services (CPS) systems are implementing Differential Response (DR) approaches in which lower-risk families are served through a family assessment response that emphasizes a family centered approach and the provision of concrete and preventative services. Quantitative survey data collected from parents suggests that those who receive family assessments are more engaged, receive more concrete services, and have higher overall satisfaction than those who receive a traditional investigation; yet little is known about which services provided through a family assessment are most helpful to parents. This qualitative study sought input from 20 parents who received a DR family assessment response in order to provide an in-depth analysis of which aspects of their CPS experience they perceived as most helpful.