How Would You Do it? Using Community Cafes to Inform Co-Design of Community Response Programs?

Authors

María Gandarilla Ocampo, Leanne Heaton, Oriana Leach, Mallory VanMeeter, Kaya West

Published in

Child maltreatment. Pages 10775595261456616. Jun 27, 2026. Epub Jun 27, 2026.

Abstract

Increasingly, communities across the U.S. are looking to prevent families from unnecessary involvement with the child welfare system. Community-based participatory research methods, like community cafés, offer a framework for developing solutions in partnership with groups impacted by the child welfare system. The present study, which is part of a larger child welfare prevention demonstration project, is among the first to use community cafés with families and mandated reporters to inform the design of a community response program. Evaluators worked with local partners to host eleven community cafés in three states, mainly in rural areas. Conversations centered on the need for voluntary, tailored, and affirming support for families. Participants living in rural areas emphasized the unique service barriers impacting families in their communities. These collective insights from families and mandated reporters shine a light on opportunities to improve community response programs, including meeting the needs of families in rural areas.

PMID:
42363695
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 27 Jun 2026.

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