Effects of anti-poverty services under the differential response approach to child welfare

Abstract

The long-term effects of providing material or anti-poverty services to families with reports of child maltreatment were examined in a field experiment in a Midwestern state in which differential response (DR) had been implemented. From a pool of families determined to be appropriate for DR family assessments, 2605 randomly assigned experimental families that received family assessments were compared to 1265 randomly assigned control families that received traditional investigations. Families were tracked for 8 to 9 years. Fuller data were available for sub-samples of 434 experimental families and 208 control families. Main covariates included service case openings, anti-poverty service reception and study group membership. Other variables introduced were previous reports, socioeconomic status (SES), and level of family engagement. Outcome measures included subsequent reports and removals/placements of children. Formal service case openings increased for experimental families. Significant increases were found in anti-poverty services to low SES experimental families. Proportional hazards analyses indicated that these changes were associated with reductions of later reports and placements of children. In addition, by controlling for service differences, the analysis demonstrated significant effects of the non-adversarial, family-friendly approach of DR family-assessments. Possible explanations of long-term effects of service interventions are offered along with suggestions for future research.