Consideration of a Differential Response in Washington State’s Child Protection System

May 9, 2008 Differential response systems have been established in states as part of an effort to decrease the adversarial nature of child protection investigations and to increase family engagement in service planning and service delivery. States have seen success in their efforts to increase family engagement in services. Outcome measures include variables that would be expected in a system that separates lower risk families from families with immediate safety threats to children. In families served by a differential response system, there tend to be fewer placements and less court involvement with families diverted to an "assessment track." Assessment track . . .