Connecting Families to Voluntary Supports after a CPS Report: A Qualitative Examination of Community Provider Approaches

Background and Purpose: Across the United States, Child Protective Services (CPS) receives millions of reports of suspected child maltreatment each year, yet most families reported are screened out and do not receive services to address their underlying needs. Programs aim to fill this gap by referring families to voluntary, community-based supports that provide parenting education, mental health services, and financial assistance. Despite growing recognition of these preventive services, only a small percentage of families with screened-out referrals are linked to services, and even fewer accept and complete them. However, when families engage and complete services, they are significantly less likely to experience future CPS involvement or foster care placement. This study aims to answer the following research question: How do community-based prevention program social workers engage families and address barriers to voluntary preventive service completion?

Methods: Participants were recruited through annual interviews conducted by a CPS agency in Southern California and were offered a $25 gift card. Thirteen semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with community-based prevention program social workers via telephone. Interviews lasted 30 to 45 minutes and were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed in NVivo 14 using an inductive thematic approach.

Results: Analysis generated three themes: (1) Facilitators and barriers to service engagement; (2) Navigating concerns about CPS; and (3) Benefits of interagency collaboration. Common barriers included distrust of the person offering services, transportation challenges, not perceiving a need for services, and limited time. The strongest facilitator was leading with care and empathy and allowing families to state their own needs. Participants emphasized the importance of flexibility in outreach and scheduling, maintaining warm and casual conversations during outreach and intake, and framing services in a strengths-based, voluntary manner. Nearly all participants described families’ hesitancy during the initial call when they were unclear how their contact information had been obtained. Participants used different approaches to manage this concern, with some explaining that the referral came from CPS and others omitting CPS from their explanation. The final theme highlighted the importance of collaboration with community-based agencies, noting that partner organizations and direct contacts help meet families’ needs.

Conclusions and Implications: This research provides insight into how community-based agencies can better engage families in voluntary services after being screened out from CPS. Findings highlight the need for consistent training and supervision to support warm, transparent, and flexible communication. Families are more likely to engage when they can state their own needs and trust community-based agencies. Findings also suggest that strong interagency collaboration enhances agencies’ capacity to connect families to appropriate resources and support sustained engagement. Together, these findings point to the importance of relational, flexible, and well-coordinated approaches to effectively engage families in voluntary preventive services.