SOCW 6311 Week 4: Identifying Service Gaps and Designing Programs in Child Protective Services

Social workers in child protective services routinely encounter gaps between what families need and what agencies can deliver, and the ability to notice those gaps, assess them rigorously, and envision responsive programs sits at the heart of effective practice. Return, for a moment, to the idea of noticing. Sensory and observational skills paired with an analytical mind are the basis of social work assessment. And assessment is perhaps the most fundamental of all social work activities. It is a process of gathering pertinent information to answer questions about problems, contributions to problems, and potential strengths and assets. A structured needs assessment in child welfare settings can surface patterns that individual casework alone may obscure, particularly when agency data and client voices are examined side by side. At a program-evaluation or program-planning level, a social worker applies the same thoughtful process used in individual assessment but extends or filters it to answer program-level questions.

As a result of this assessment, social workers often identify client problems that suggest the need for new or more focused services. They might next imagine what an appropriate service or program would look like. In this Discussion, you navigate a similar process of noticing problems, identifying needs, and envisioning a program to support those problems and needs. This Discussion asks you to draw on your field agency (child protective services), past practicum, or community setting to name a real gap, propose a programmatic response, and frame an evaluation question that could guide further inquiry. The Learning Resources for this week emphasize that needs assessments and program evaluations rest on clearly defined questions, not on vague impressions of what might help.

Discussion Prompts

• Describe at least one common client problem, issue, or gap in services or programs at your field agency, practice, or community setting. (If you are not currently in a practice setting, you may draw on your past work or practicum experience.)
• Specifically, highlight what you see that tells you clients need something more than what the agency, practice, or community setting is offering.
• Identify a program that you think is necessary to address the problem, issue, or gap and explain why.
• Generate a question that you might ask about your identified need and to whom.
• Review the Learning Resources on focusing an evaluation and on needs assessments.
• Consider your field agency, practice, or community setting, and any common client problems, issues, or service gaps you have observed. If you are not currently in a practice setting, you may draw on your past work or practicum experience.
• Research and/or brainstorm ideas for programs or services that could address the problems, issues, or gaps.

Agency Focus: Child Protective Services

Learning Resources

• Dudley, J. R. (2020). Social work evaluation: Enhancing what we do (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
  • Chapter 4, “Common Types of Evaluations”
  • Read “Common Program Evaluations” (pp. 78–89).
  • Chapter 5, “Focusing an Evaluation” (pp. 96–111)
  • Chapter 6, “Needs Assessments” (pp. 115–147)

Research, Writing, Citation & Referencing Notes

Answer-First Summary

Child protective services agencies frequently identify gaps between the needs of families under supervision and the services available to them. A needs assessment process, as described in Dudley (2020), helps social workers gather client-level and program-level data that reveal patterns, unmet needs, and potential points of intervention. When those findings point to a service gap, the next step involves designing a program that responds to the specific problem and framing an evaluation question that can guide implementation and measurement. This Discussion asks you to trace that arc from noticing to questioning.

Why This Matters in Practice

Identifying a service gap and proposing a program response reflects the kind of analytical thinking that child welfare agencies depend on when resources are limited and client needs are complex. The Utah Division of Child and Family Services partnered with the University of Utah Social Research Institute to conduct a mixed-methods needs assessment that examined administrative data on more than 429,000 children and gathered qualitative feedback from 289 Utahns through provider surveys, stakeholder interviews, and community engagement sessions (University of Utah Social Research Institute, 2024). That assessment identified priority needs, service gaps, and actionable strategies to guide prevention and intervention efforts. Social workers who can replicate that logic at the agency level become valuable contributors to program planning, not just case management.

Common Question

What makes a needs assessment different from a program evaluation?

A needs assessment identifies and prioritizes the problems a program should address, while a program evaluation determines whether an existing program achieved its intended outcomes. Dudley (2020) positions needs assessments at the front end of the evaluation cycle, where the purpose is to understand the scope of a problem and the population affected before any intervention is designed. Program evaluations, by contrast, examine implementation processes, outcomes, and efficiency once a program is running. The two activities use overlapping methods, but they answer different questions and serve different decision-making moments.

Sample Answer Excerpts

Noticing the Gap: Substance Use Screening in Adolescent CPS Cases

In a child protective services agency where I completed my practicum, adolescents on my caseload frequently presented with substance use concerns that were not formally assessed until a crisis occurred. Caseworkers relied on informal observation and parent reports, which meant that youth who used substances privately or in social settings often went undetected until school referrals or juvenile justice involvement brought the issue forward. A structured screening protocol could have identified those youth earlier and connected them to services before escalation. The DSM-5 Level 2 Substance Use measure for children ages 11 to 17, adapted from the NIDA-Modified ASSIST, offers a 15-item instrument that assesses alcohol, tobacco, prescription medicine, and illicit substance use in adolescents (American Psychiatric Association, n.d.). Integrating that measure into routine assessments would give caseworkers a standardized way to identify youth who need further evaluation or referral. The CRAFFT 2.1+N screening tool has also demonstrated utility in foster care settings, where researchers found that standardized screening with the CRAFFT 2.1 identified substance use concerns among youth aged 10 to 20 who were in foster care (Ackerman et al., 2024). What I noticed was not that adolescents in CPS were using substances at higher rates than their peers, but that the agency had no consistent process for asking about it.

Designing a Program Response

A program worth proposing would pair routine substance use screening with a brief intervention and referral pathway embedded in the CPS assessment process. The rationale for this program rests on the observation that adolescent substance use in child welfare populations often co-occurs with trauma exposure, mental health needs, and family disruption. A study of the Community Response Program found that asking families what they need through a structured assessment process reduced subsequent child protective services involvement in a multi-site randomized controlled trial (Slack et al., 2022). The program I envision would borrow that logic: ask adolescents directly about substance use, use the results to inform case planning, and provide a warm handoff to treatment when screening indicates need. Limitations include the time burden on caseworkers, the need for training in screening administration and interpretation, and the challenge of securing treatment slots for youth on Medicaid. The Severity Measure for Depression, Child Age 11 to 17, adapted from the PHQ-9 modified for adolescents, could complement a substance use screen because depression and substance use frequently co-occur in this population (American Psychiatric Association, n.d.). None of these tools replace clinical judgment. They sharpen it.

References

Ackerman, M. A., Brown, S. A., & Duster, T. (2024). Substance use screening among youth in foster care. *Pediatrics*, *154*(Supplement 2), S1–S10. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2023-065057

American Psychiatric Association. (n.d.). *Online assessment measures*. https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm/educational-resources/assessment-measures

Dudley, J. R. (2020). *Social work evaluation: Enhancing what we do* (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Slack, K. S., Berger, L. M., Reilly, A., Reynders, R., & Cai, J. Y. (2022). Preventing child protective services system involvement by asking families what they need: Findings from a multi-site RCT of the community response program. *Children and Youth Services Review*, *139*, 106569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106569

University of Utah Social Research Institute. (2024). *Summary of the Strengthening Utah Families Project*. College of Social Work. https://socialwork.utah.edu/research/reports/posts/summary_of_the_strengthening_utah_families_project.php

Vallejo-Slocker, L., Idoiaga-Mondragon, N., Axpe, I., Willi, R., Guerra-Rodríguez, M., Montserrat, C., & del Valle, J. F. (2024). Systematic review of the evaluation of foster care programs. *Psychosocial Intervention*, *33*(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.5093/pi2023a14

SOCW 6311 Week 5: Focusing an Evaluation and Defining Program Outcomes

Last week you identified a service gap and proposed a program to address it. This week shifts from problem definition to evaluation planning. You will select a program or intervention at your field agency, identify the evaluation questions that matter most, and map out the data sources and methods you would use to answer them. Dudley (2020) argues that a focused evaluation begins with a clear question and a realistic sense of what the agency can measure. In a 2–3 page paper, describe the evaluation question you have chosen, explain why it is the most important question to ask at this stage, identify at least two data sources you would draw on, and discuss one ethical or practical challenge you anticipate. Reference the Dudley chapters on focusing an evaluation and on evaluation design. Submit your paper in APA format with a reference list.

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