What is Multiple Response System?
MRS! Newsletter Issues
MRS Meeting Notes
North Carolina's MRS Evaluations and Reports
MRS County Resource Information
MRS Training Information

What is Multiple Response System?
North Carolina’s Multiple Response System (MRS) is our state’s on-going effort to reform the entire continuum of child welfare services, beginning with the first report of concerns about a child and his or her family and continuing all the way through the finding of a permanent home for those children who enter foster care. MRS, as a reform effort, is not one single program. Rather, it is comprised of seven separate strategies delivered to families through a practice model grounded in the use of Family-Centered practice and System of Care principles. Initially, North Carolina considered focusing solely on choice of two approaches to reports of child maltreatment (referred to as Alternative Response or Differential Response in other states). However, further planning, led North Carolina to understand that in order to be most effective with families, both a philosophical and a practice shift was needed through all aspects of child welfare. Adopting multiple methods or strategies allows North Carolina county departments of social services to tailor its services to meet families’ complex and changing needs throughout the life of their case.

This reform effort began as a pilot demonstration in 2002 with ten county Departments of Social Services: Alamance, Bladen, Buncombe, Caldwell, Craven, Franklin, Guilford, Nash, Mecklenburg, and Transylvania. In 2003, MRS expanded to 42 additional counties and in January of 2006, MRS went statewide with the remaining 48 counties. A map showing MRS expansion in North Carolina’s county administered and state supervised system is here. In January of 2007, only one year following statewide implementation of MRS, the North Carolina Division of Social Services made obsolete its stand alone MRS Policy and Practice Manual and incorporated all of that policy and practice information in that manual into our current Child Protective Services manual.

North Carolina’s child welfare reform is based upon the application of Family-Centered principles of partnership used throughout the seven strategic components of MRS. Each of the seven strategies, when implemented to its fullest, has the potential for tremendous benefit for the county departments of social services and North Carolina families. A chart thoroughly explaining each of the strategies, demonstration of how each strategy, and each strategy’s intended impact on North Carolina’s families and social work practice is here.*

North Carolina's MRS Evaluations and Reports*

• MRS Evaluation Pilot 10 Counties Fact Sheets for 2006
• MRS Evaluation Report to the North Carolina Division of Social Services 2006
• MRS Evaluation Report to the North Carolina Division of Social Services 2004
• MRS Legislative Report

MRS County Resource Information*

• Family Services Manual Volume I; Chapter VII - Child and Family Team Meetings
• MRS Case Tracking Form (DSS-5106)
• Practice Notes (Vol. 13, No.1, Dec. 2007) – Enhancing Child and Family Team Meetings
• Practice Notes (Vol. 9, No. 3, Apr. 2004) – Enhancing Collaboration Between Child Welfare and Work First (TANF)
• Practice Notes (Vol. 9, No. 1, Oct. 2003) – Family-Centered Supervision in Child Welfare
• Practice Notes (Vol. 8, No. 2, Mar. 2003) – Child and Family Team Meetings in Child Welfare
• Fostering Perspectives (Vol. 7, No. 2, May 2003) – North Carolina Embarks on Major Reform of Its Child Welfare System

MRS Training Information*

• 2006 MRS Policy Training**
• MRS is System Reform; Key Strategies for Future of Child Welfare in North Carolina:Trainer's Guide
• Cornerstone III Self-Study Guide for Family Assessment 
• Training Matters (Vol. 9, No. 1, Dec. 2007) – Talking to Judges About CFTs
• Training Matters (Vol. 8, No. 2, Apr. 2007) – Support for Child and Family Team Meetings in NC

MRS! Newsletter Issues*

• January 2008
• October 2007
• July 2007
• May 2007
• January 2007 
• June 2006
• April 2006 
• January 2006 
• September 2005

MRS Meeting Notes*
The daily challenges that counties face during the reformation of North Carolina’s child welfare system are mitigated through a number of supportive strategies. The quarterly newsletters entitled MRS! (linked above) are one such strategy. Additionally, the Division provides technical assistance and support to all 100 North Carolina counties through its Local Support Operations unit and through both a dedicated MRS Policy Consultant and a MRS Program Coordinator. In August of each year, the Division holds a Multiple Response System Learning Institute, which is a three-day skills development extension of the state’s child welfare training system. Ten months out of the year, meetings in each of the state’s three regions occur where discussion on MRS related issues occur, success stories are shared, and challenges and barriers are addressed. While the MRS Policy Consultant facilitates these meetings, the county child welfare staff attending each of the meetings provides the real MRS expertise. Open discussions during these meetings allow counties collectively brainstorm solutions to challenges and barriers. Notes to the past meetings are below while a calendar of upcoming meetings is here.

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**These documents are in Powerpoint Slide Show format. If you do not have Powerpoint installed on your computer, you may download the free viewer at www.microsoft.com.