Results found that the current child welfare delivery system emphasized a change to services to youth experiencing more serious problems and less on preventive services. The findings suggest that preventive services concentrate on enhancing caregiver skills in building positive relationships with youth and that increasing the monitoring of youth’s activity may change the pathway to delinquent behavior for the youth. Data were used from the first national longitudinal study of children in the child welfare system, the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Wellbeing (NSCAW). Findings indicate that older youth were more likely engage in delinquent behaviors than younger youth. Girls were less likely to engage in delinquent behavior than boys. Race or ethnicity did not play a significant relationship with engaging in delinquent behaviors. Physically abused youth were more likely to engage in delinquent behaviors than neglected youth. Youth at greatest risk received more child welfare services than youth not at risk. The children were selected from 97 counties in 8 States, n=6,231, ages birth to 14, who had contact with the child welfare system within a 15-month period beginning in October 1999. Tables and references