Differential Response Early Intervention

Child welfare agencies across the country are recognizing the need for more than one system of response to child abuse and neglect hotline calls.

While the majority of the calls coming into the hotline do not meet the legal threshold for abuse and/or neglect, these calls are often about children and families who have significant needs that, when left unattended, are likely to escalate.

Early intervention and more individualized responses by community-based organizations, not child welfare, have proven to be successful in meeting the needs of these families, ensuring that children are safe, and kept out of the child welfare system.

PATH 1

FIRST 5 Community Partners provide services and support for children and families who have been reported to the child abuse hotline and it has been determined that the call does not constitute child abuse or neglect. These children and families can access Path I services.

Path I referrals are made for evaluated out hotline calls, as determined by the Child Abuse and Neglect Center, for families with at least one child under the age of six.

Community Providers for Path I families include FIRST 5 Partners and Gardner Family Care Corporation who provide immediate access to child-focused services in early intervention and prevention reducing the need for out-of-home placement and thereby preventing trauma to children and families.

These children and their families may also be referred to our Screening, to Assessment, Referral, and Treatment System (STARTS) and other FIRST 5 services.