The Answer is, it depends.  It depends on your part of the definition.  DCF can screen-out 51A Investigation; although that is not that common, but some examples for that might be that it doesn’t need the legal threshold such as; it is an allegation where there is no allegation against the caretaker or guardian. There also can be ones where even if the allegation is true, it does not rise to the level of neglect or abuse.  Occasionally if it is found that the reporter is not credible or has a significant biased they can screen it out.  However, most of the time DCF will investigate most of the reports that it receives; which is called a “51A” report or investigation and then it is either supported, unsupported or fined for substantiated concern after the investigation.