Los Angeles County Self-Assessment Report

Key Components of POE:
• Differential (Community) response: provision of a community-based network of
formal and informal support services for children and families with an inconclusive
child abuse and neglect referral to divert families from entering the child protective
system.
• Alternative Response: provision of a community-based network of formal and
informal support and services for children and families with multiple inconclusive
child abuse and neglect referrals to divert families from entering the child protective
system.
• Voluntary Services: provision of voluntary family maintenance/reunification and
family preservation services to families that have been assess to be at moderate to
high risk where a child protective case is opened.
• Intensive Services Workers: conduct child safety conferences shortly after detention
to review for possible return of children and/to connect children and families to
services immediately following detention.
• Team-Decision-making/Child Safety Conferences: provides a forum for the family,
relatives, friends, social workers and community service providers to share
information, observations, concerns and identify family strengths and resources to
assist in the development of an appropriate service plan for the family.
In December of 2006, The Children and Families Research Consortium submitted a
report to DCFS that provided findings of a qualitative study on Point of Engagement as
it was implemented in the Compton and Wateridge offices. In summary, they found that
Team Decision Making was viewed as a positive and productive practice that is
consistent with the principles of POE. Many benefits of TDM were described by various
stakeholders, including the ability to better engage families in the decision making
process and being able to include family supports and community representatives in the
development of a safety plan. Stakeholders noted that the “process helps build
cooperation from families” and “TDMs in which supervisors are present have a built-in
screening process that helps to more appropriately recommend a program to a family.”
The Emergency Response staff reported that their roles have significantly changed as a
result of POE, stating that they have much greater contact with community-based
agencies through referral, assessment and follow-up and have greater responsibility
with immediately securing services that help mitigate safety and risk factors in order to
reduce reliance on out-of-home care. The expectation is to work more collaboratively
with agencies, families, and internal DCFS staff.
The qualitative study also noted some challenges with the implementation of TDM,
including difficulty with training enough skilled facilitators who are available when
needed, and the regular, systematic use of TDMs. Finding the space to hold TDMs was
also an issue and affected the timeliness in which TDMs were completed. The primary
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