Child Protective Investigations (CPI) conducts either a traditional investigation or Alternative Response (AR). Both require CPI to assess safety and take needed actions to protect a child and assess the risk of future abuse or neglect in the foreseeable future. AR, however, allows for a more flexible, family engaging approach on lower priority cases involving alleged victims who are age 6 or older. AR differs from traditional investigations in that there is no substantiation of allegations, no entry of perpetrators into the Central Registry (a repository for reports of child abuse and neglect), and there a heightened focus on guiding the family to plan for safety in a way that works for them and therefore sustains the safety. Completed investigations only include those cases conducted as a traditional investigation that were not administratively closed or merged into another stage. An investigation can only be administratively closed if all allegations have a disposition of administrative closure. A completed investigation can include more than one alleged victim. Completed investigations do not include any Alternative Response cases. A description of Alternative Response and how it differs from a traditional investigation is in the CPS glossary. At the end of a completed investigation, CPI assesses child safety, the risk of abuse or neglect in the foreseeable future, the ability of the family to reduce the risk without CPI intervention, the ability of CPI to provide needed services and other circumstances in the case to decide whether to provide ongoing services. The Case Action Substitute Care includes investigations that resulted in at least one child (not necessarily all children in the home) being removed. Does not equal number of children removed. Visit dfps.texas.gov for information on CPS Abuse/Neglect Investigations and all DFPS programs.

Child Protective Investigations (CPI) conducts either a traditional investigation or Alternative Response (AR). Traditional investigations and Alternative Response require caseworkers to assess safety and take needed actions to protect a child while assessing any risk of abuse or neglect in the foreseeable future. AR cases present a less adversarial more collaborative approach to working with families by allowing for family engagement along with other community supports to ensure child safety. AR differs from traditional investigations in that AR cases are Priority 2 cases involving victims who are age 6 or older, there is no substantiation of allegations, no entry of perpetrators into the Central Registry (a repository for reports of child abuse and neglect), and there is a heightened focus on guiding the family to plan for safety in a way that works for them and therefore sustains the safety. Completed investigations only include those cases conducted as a traditional investigation that were not administratively closed or merged into another stage. Investigations may include more than one alleged victim. All allegations in a completed investigation are given one of the following dispositions: Reason to Believe (RTB) - defined in section 2281.2 of the CPS policy handbook Ruled Out (RO) - defined in section 2281.3 of CPS policy handbook Unable to Complete (UTC) - defined in section 2281.4 of CPS policy handbook Unable to Determine (UTD) - defined in section 2281.4 of CPS policy handbook If at least one allegation has an RTB disposition, the investigation is given an overall disposition of RTB. If there are no allegations with an RTB disposition but there is at least one allegation with a disposition of UTD, the investigation is given an overall disposition of UTD. Visit dfps.texas.gov for information on CPI Abuse/Neglect Investigations and all DFPS programs.

Child Protective Investigations (CPI) is authorized to investigate abuse and neglect allegedly committed by a person responsible for a child's care, custody or welfare and to protect abused and neglected children from further harm. This authorization is derived from the U.S. Social Securities Act, Texas Family Code, Human Resources Code, Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, Indian Child Welfare Act and the Adam Walsh Act. CPI conducts either a traditional investigation or Alternative Response (AR). Both require CPI to assess safety and take needed actions to protect a child and assess the risk of future abuse or neglect in the foreseeable future. AR, however, allows for a more flexible, family engaging approach on lower priority cases involving alleged victims who are age 6 or older. AR differs from traditional investigations in that there is no substantiation of allegations, no entry of perpetrators into the Central Registry (a repository for reports of child abuse and neglect), and there a heightened focus on guiding the family to plan for safety in a way that works for them and therefore sustains the safety. Completed investigations only include those cases conducted as a traditional investigation that were not administratively closed or merged into another stage. An investigation can only be administratively closed if all allegations have a disposition of administrative closure. A completed investigation can include more than one alleged victim. Completed investigations do not include any Alternative Response cases. A description of Alternative Response and how it differs from a traditional investigation is in the glossary. FOOTNOTES An investigation represents a report of abuse or neglect and can involve multiple children. The data on completed investigations does not include investigative stages that were administratively closed or merged into another investigation. All completed investigations have a case disposition and a risk finding. Visit dfps.state.tx.us for information on Abuse/Neglect Investigations and all DFPS programs.

This dashboard displays the number of clients, both adult and child, involved in a completed CPI investigation during a given fiscal year. It does not include those involved in Alternative Response or those involved in an administratively closed investigation. This dashboard addressed Texas Family Code Section 264.017.(b)(3). More information at www.dfps.texas.gov

ABOUT THIS CHART Child Protective Investigations (CPI) conducts either a traditional investigation or Alternative Response (AR). Traditional investigations and Alternative Response require caseworkers to assess safety and take needed actions to protect a child while assessing any risk of abuse or neglect in the foreseeable future. AR cases present a less adversarial more collaborative approach to working with families by allowing for family engagement along with other community supports to ensure child safety. AR differs from traditional investigations in that AR cases are Priority 2 cases involving victims who are age 6 or older, there is no substantiation of allegations, no entry of perpetrators into the Central Registry (a repository for reports of child abuse and neglect), and there is a heightened focus on guiding the family to plan for safety in a way that works for them and therefore sustains safety. Alterative Response has been fully implemented in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6B, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. AR in Region 6A is in the implementation stage. Full state implementation is anticipated in March 2021. Region 6A is Harris County and Region 6B is Region 6 excluding Harris County. The persons in these counts are limited to principals in Alternative Response stages. Clients in stages that were administratively closed or closed to merge were excluded from the counts. This dashboard addresses Texas Family Code Section 264.017 (b) (3).

Child Protective Investigations (CPI) conducts either a traditional investigation or Alternative Response (AR). Traditional investigations and Alternative Response require caseworkers to assess safety and take needed actions to protect a child while assessing any risk of abuse or neglect in the foreseeable future. AR cases present a less adversarial more collaborative approach to working with families by allowing for family engagement along with other community supports to ensure child safety. AR differs from traditional investigations in that AR cases are Priority 2 cases involving victims who are age 6 or older, there is no substantiation of allegations, no entry of perpetrators into the Central Registry (a repository for reports of child abuse and neglect), and there is a heightened focus on guiding the family to plan for safety in a way that works for them and therefore sustains safety. Alterative Response has been fully implemented in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6B, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. AR in Region 6A is in the implementation stage. Full state implementation is anticipated in March 2021. Region 6A is Harris County and Region 6B is Region 6 excluding Harris County. Stages that were administratively closed or closed to merge were excluded from this report. This dashboard addresses Texas Family Code Section 264.017 (b) (3).

ABOUT THIS CHART Child Protective Investigations (CPI) conducts either a traditional investigation or Alternative Response (AR). Traditional investigations and Alternative Response require caseworkers to assess safety and take needed actions to protect a child while assessing any risk of abuse or neglect in the foreseeable future. AR cases present a less adversarial more collaborative approach to working with families by allowing for family engagement along with other community supports to ensure child safety. AR differs from traditional investigations in that AR cases are Priority 2 cases involving victims who are age 6 or older, there is no substantiation of allegations, no entry of perpetrators into the Central Registry (a repository for reports of child abuse and neglect), and there is a heightened focus on guiding the family to plan for safety in a way that works for them and therefore sustains safety. Alternative response is timely if the first face-to-face meeting with the family and children in the household occurs within five days of an AR stage being opened and will involve working with the family to conduct safety and family assessments. AR cases can remain open for up to 60 days with a one-time 20-day extension, if appropriate. Should CPI staff identify services to improve general family functioning and overall protective actions within the standard AR case time frame, the caseworker will provide support in linking the family to existing resources within the community. A description of Alternative Response and how it differs from a traditional investigation and priority response times are in the glossary. Alterative Response has been fully implemented in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6B, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. AR in Region 6A is in the implementation stage. Full state implementation is anticipated in March 2021. Region 6A is Harris County and Region 6B is Region 6 excluding Harris County. This dashboard addresses the Texas Family Code Section 264.017 (b) (6).

The principal governing legislation for CPI investigations is Chapter 261 of the Texas Family Code (TFC). 1. Victims have been unduplicated by investigation stage. 2. Abuse/neglect investigations can contain multiple allegations, each with their own disposition. More information at www.dfps.texas.gov

Recidivism is calculated as a percentage of all alleged perpetrators in abuse/neglect investigations closed without services who were a confirmed perpetrator within 12 months after the prior investigation was closed without services. Calculating this way, for example, the Fiscal Year 2019 rate reflects recidivism of alleged perpetrators in investigations closed without services in Fiscal Year 2018, the Fiscal Year 2018 rate reflects recidivism among alleged perpetrators in investigations closed without services in 2017, and so on.

Number of Child Protective Investigations referred to Family Preservation Services organized by final risk assigned to each family through safety and risk assessments. Data begins in 2018 due to changing Risk Assessments over time in the IMPACT application. This dashboard addresses the Texas Human Resources Code Sec. 40.0516 (a)(2).