Services & History
American Humane Association is here to help build your knowledge of differential response and apply best practices to the critical work you do with children and families. We can assist with:
Training and Technical Assistance.
Our experts in differential response can train your team and resolve technical issues.
Design and System Reforms
Conceptualizing how differential response can work in your system is an important step we can help you take.
Implementation Support
It’s one thing to recognize the importance of differential response, and another to make it work in your system. We can show you how.
Quality Assurance and Model Fidelity
Our extensive work with readiness assessments, coaching and mentoring, case record reviews, and benchmarking can be applied to assure quality and model fidelity once you start implementing differential response.
Evaluation
Not sure if your differential response initiative is working? We can provide the expertise and clarity you need.
Curriculum Development
Let us help you develop a differential response curriculum that makes sense for your organization.
Networking and Knowledge Building
Learn about the latest breakthroughs in differential response from other child welfare professionals at our Annual Conference on Differential Response in Child Welfare, through our monthly webinars and by exploring our resources, including our 2006 National Study on Differential Response in Child Welfare, which we completed with the Child Welfare League of America.
Presentations
Our experts are available to present on differential response at your organization or at the conferences you are organizing.
See how our expertise in differential response is benefiting others by learning about our current projects!
Why Partner With American Humane Association?
A Brief History of Our Work in Differential Response
We’ve been at the forefront of differential response best practices since 2005, and our staff’s expertise is highly respected in the field of child welfare.
Our accomplishments include:
- The publication of two breakthrough issues of our journal Protecting Children dedicated to differential response, the first in 2005 (PDF) and the second in 2008 (PDF).
- Completion of the 2006 National Study on Differential Response in Child Welfare. We worked alongside the Child Welfare League of America, and with the support of the Everett Public Service Internship Program, to conduct this vital study. It profiles practice, policy, implementation and evaluative issues in differential response in the United States.
- Hosting an annual Conference on Differential Response since 2006, where child welfare professionals can gather to share ideas, enhance their knowledge of the field and network.
- Award in 2008 of a five-year cooperative agreement with the Children’s Bureau to develop and implement the National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services.
We continue to publish journals and other materials on differential response and provide expert consultation, training and support for the development and implementation of differential response nationally and internationally.
In October 2008, American Humane Association, in partnership with Walter R. McDonald & Associates and the Institute of Applied Research, was selected to receive a federal cooperative agreement totaling nearly $10 million over five years to develop the National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services. The grant was awarded by the Children’s Bureau of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
