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The North Carolina Multiple Response System (MRS) was enacted by the General Assembly in 2001. The legislation required that the Division of Social Services, in consultation with local departments of Social Services, develop and implement an alternative response system in North Carolina. This reform would allow counties to implement an alternative response system as well as utilize a number of other family- centered practices and assessment tools. The application of family-centered practices is achieved through MRS using various strategies, including assessing families from a strengths-based model, utilization of team decision-making in child and family team meetings, implementation of shared parenting meetings in placement cases, and coordination among multiple agencies and community organizations that provide needed services to families.
Ten counties volunteered to serve as pilot counties and began implementation of MRS in 2002. The first 10 counties to implement the new system were Alamance, Bladen, Buncombe, Caldwell, Craven, Franklin, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Nash and Transylvania. In 2003, 48 additional counties began implementation, and, currently, all 100 counties are utilizing MRS.
The North Carolina Division of Social Services requested that the Center for Child and Family Policy conduct an evaluation of the new system to determine its effectiveness within the 10 pilot counties. This comprehensive evaluation has focused on the following dimensions of MRS reform:
1) case distribution, choice of two approaches to report child maltreatment,
2) safety, including rates of assessment and repeat assessments,
3) timeliness of response and case decision,
4) frontloading of services,
5) redesign of in-home services,
6) implementation of child and family teams,
7) collaboration between Child Welfare and Work First,
8) shared parenting activities, and
9) feedback from families.
In fiscal year 2006-2007, the Center for Child and Family Policy will continue to collect data on many of these measures but will also examine the relationship between repeat assessments and other variables, including:
- single versus multiple social workers from case origination through closure,
- the use of the new case finding category of “services provided and no longer needed”,
- contributory factors and/or family risk factors,
- shared parenting,
- front-loading of services.
It is anticipated that in subsequent years, this evaluation will be expanded to include data collection in additional counties, allowing for further analysis of the effectiveness of this system reform on a statewide level.
Multiple Response System (MRS) Evaluation – Report to the North Carolina Division of Social Services (NCDSS). June 30, 2006
Multiple Response System (MRS) Evaluation – Report to the North Carolina Division of Social Services (NCDSS). April 1, 2004
Christina Christopoulos, Research Associate
919-668-3278
dgreek@acpub.duke.edu
Nicole Lawrence, Research Coordinator
919-668-3282
nicole.lawrence@duke.edu
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