Child, Youth and Family has begun the nationwide rollout of differential response, a more collaborative way of working with families and other organisations to identify and address issues faced by families.  

The internal pathway introduces a ‘child and family assessment’. The child and family assessment is a more facilitative and less intrusive approach to engaging families and understanding their needs than a statutory investigation

Most of the families we work with go down the assessment pathway.  Cases of serious physical abuse, sexual abuse, serious family violence or neglect are still investigated. 

New social work resources have been developed to support this approach, including a ‘safety assessment’ and ‘child and family consult’.  The safety assessment establishes the immediate safety of the child and helps determine the most appropriate response.  The child and family consult is a new way of organising and analysing information about a case using a group supervision process - it strengthens our decision making and is more transparent.  It also offers a structured way of utilising the group’s skills and experiences to make decisions based on a more complete understanding of the child, their family/whanau, and their needs.

The external pathway involves us working more closely with other organisations to respond to a family’s needs, and using our collective knowledge and expertise to wrap the right support around them. 

Many of the notifications that come to us turn out to be families that don’t need our involvement but would benefit from community based support and services.  Differential response helps us link families with social services earlier and in a more structured way.  By connecting families to services that will help them resolve issues earlier, we hope to prevent more serious problems occurring down the track. 

There are two options - ‘refer to service’, from the call centre and ‘partnered response’ through a site office.    

Refer to service

This option is for families who have low level issues and who have been notified by a family member or professional who is supporting the family.  Following an initial assessment at the call centre, the family is referred to a local Strengthening Families co-ordinator and looked after through the normal Strengthening Families process.  This approach keeps the family safe and connected with those who are best placed to support them. 

Partnered response

Partnered response is used where the family needs services rather than a formal Child, Youth and Family response.  It recognises that many of the families are already receiving community based services, and it is a way of providing an earlier, more comprehensive and co-ordinated response.

Families can be referred to partnered response through the site based on the call centre assessment, or as a result of an assessment or investigation in the site. 

Where the family’s needs are best met by a single organisation, the Child, Youth and Family differential response co-ordinator links them with that organisation and follows up to track progress. 

Where more than one organisation needs to be or is already involved, the differential response co-ordinator brings them together to share their knowledge and to develop a plan.  The co-ordinator and the organisations keep in regular contact to monitor the family’s progress and consider any other services or support that might be needed. 

The internal pathway is live in the leader sites, and the external pathway is currently going live across the leader sites.  Differential response will be in place nationwide by 30 June 2009.