Inside the living room of a small San Jose apartment, empty diaper boxes get reused as toy boxes. Charles Austin and Kelly Tasker are practical about doing the best they can for their three children—Mariah, 3; Shaun, 2; and Brianna, 1.

So when Santa Clara County offered the couple a chance to avail themselves of community services to strengthen their relationship and make them better parents, they jumped.

Report to CPS
The couple had come to the attention of the county through a hotline call alleging they were neglecting their children. Traditionally, a child protective investigation for neglect can lead to removing children from their parents.

Santa Clara County, however, is one of an ever-growing number of public child welfare systems realizing the benefits of community services as an alternative to protective services in situations where children are not in imminent danger.

Families in need
By being more discerning in determining the appropriate response to a report of child maltreatment, child welfare agencies often can resolve the domestic problems that may result in abuse or neglect—and the removal of children from homes.

The county worker who visited Austin and Tasker determined the children would be served best by addressing the economic and emotional stresses taking a toll on their parents.

“It is within our power to do something positive for our family,” Austin says. “We have been given a lot of opportunities here, and we have taken them.”

Differential response
This approach that focuses on prevention as a way to achieve protection is called “differential response,” or alternative response, and it can take various forms and assume various names.

Casey Family Programs has championed differential response for several years as an effective practice that safely reduces the number of children entering foster care. Our paramount goal is to safely reduce the number of children in foster care by 50 percent by the year 2020. Safe reduction is vital because children fare better in life when they grow up in permanent homes with families that will love them now—and long after they leave the nest.

Differential response represents a positive trend in child welfare because it recognizes that systems, though vital in protecting children, should not raise them.

Families should.

Nonthreatening approach
Offering help instead of embodying threat, Ana Elias visits Austin, Tasker and their children once a week in their apartment for at least 90 minutes. Elias doesn’t work for Child Protective Services but instead is a social worker for Gardner Family Care, a community nonprofit that contracts with Santa Clara’s Social Services Agency.

Gardner social workers help clients navigate services already available in the community, such as parenting classes, housing assistance, energy bill subsidies, health care, food banks and Head Start. They also offer direct services, such as parent coaching, couples therapy and family budgeting. They’ve even role-played with parents to prepare them for delicate conversations at school with teachers and principals.

On this visit, Elias discusses with Austin and Tasker everything from their tenuous housing situation to Mariah’s progress on potty training. Elias has brought with her a sheet of colorful foil stickers that the parents can use as positive reinforcement for Mariah. She discusses with the couple the “good cop/bad cop” parental dynamic and checks on their efforts to find sitters so Tasker can have respites to relieve the stress of raising three little ones.

“I always thought the child welfare system was about taking away your kids,” Tasker said. “I never knew it provided these types of services.”

Differential response strengthens families
Differential response has been implemented formally in more than two dozen states, with several more conducting pilot programs, according to Child Welfare Information Gateway. In some states, it is authorized by statute while in others it is specified through agency policy. Neither ensures statewide implementation, however.

In California, differential response is implemented county by county.

Since expanding differential response, Santa Clara County has seen precipitous drops in the number of protective petitions filed with the court and in the number of children entering foster care.

“Now that we have fewer kids coming into care, we can do a better job with those kids already in care, such as providing them enhanced services to help with their transition to adulthood,” said Will Lightbourne, director of the county’s Social Services Agency.

Persistence overcomes resistance
Gardner social workers who make initial visits to homes often are met with resistance because of suspicion and fear. Their resistance, however, is met with persistence.

Andrea Urton, former Gardner program manager, said if phone calls to schedule a first home visit are not returned, workers are directed to “go to the home and knock on the door. If they don’t answer, leave a note asking them to call. If they still don’t call, visit the home again on a different day, at a different time.”

Ulises Preciado, a Gardner family engagement specialist, says he lays it all out for families during his initial home visit: “I tell them: ‘My job is not to investigate or even speak to you about what was reported to CPS. My job is to offer you services that are entirely voluntary. I’m not here to judge you or tell you how to live your life.’ They can view me as a burden. Or they can view me as a blessing.”

Mike Danner, Gardner program supervisor, estimates that as many as three out of every four families accept the offer of services, and that 85 percent of those successfully complete a six-month service plan that the family crafts.

New path for Austin and Tasker
Austin and Tasker are well on their way to completing theirs.

“I love being a parent, but it’s work,” says Austin, just as Brianna, cradled in his arms, nuzzles her head against his chest. “And then this happens, right here. And I melt. I used to think I was harder than steel. But with these kids, I’ve learned I’m softer than pharmaceutical cotton.”