A Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) is a comprehensive federal-state study of each state's performance in child abuse and neglect cases. It examines the performance of the entire state, including the child welfare agency, the courts, and other key agencies.

State Court Improvement Projects are to participate in the implementation of the CFSR, as they deem necessary.

A large team conducts the CFSR, including people from the federal government and people from the state – including consultants selected by the federal government and by the state.

The CFSR uses multiple sources and types of information:

• Statewide statistics concerning abused and neglected children and their families and children in foster care;
• Descriptions of how the state child welfare agency and court are organized.
• Brief summaries of the laws, regulations, rules and policies governing the state child welfare agency and child welfare litigation.
• Intensive file reviews, combined with interviews of persons who were involved with the cases under review.
• “Stakeholder interviews”: Interviews of a variety of persons and groups who deal with the child welfare agency, including legal system representatives.

There are several key stages of the CFSR:

• Planning stage.
• Descriptions of how the state child welfare agency and court are organized.
• Onsite review, including case reviews and stakeholder interviews.
• Final Report from the federal government, stating in which respects the state is in "substantial conformity" with CFSR requirements.
• Program Improvement Plan (PIP), a negotiated agreement between the state and federal government, specifying a detailed plan to improve state performance in those areas in which it is not in “substantial conformity” with federal requirements.
• Implementation period for the PIP.
• Review of the PIP, an evaluation of the success or lack of success of the PIP, generally two years after the PIP is negotiated.