Child Protective Services
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES REFORM
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INTRODUCTION
Child Protective Services (CPS) is a complex system of assessments, investigations, and conclusions. CPS is the central agency in each communities child abuse and neglect service system. It is responsible for ensuring that preventative, investigative, and treatment services are available to children and families endangered by child abuse and neglect. As a result, CPS workers must perform a variety of functions when responding to situations of child maltreatment and play a variety of roles throughout their involvement with child protective clients. Reporting a suspective case of child maltreatment to the local CPS agency (or a family member’s own request for help with the problem) initiates the CPS response process. Once the intake is completed, an investigative process is done, and then the initial assessments and services planning processes are completed. Then the stage is set for implementation of ongoing services(Schene)(1). This description of the process of child protective services sounds acceptable and workable. However, an increasing number of child abuse and neglect cases have presented themselves in recent years. According to Jane Waldfogel, a writer for Child Welfare, about three million children were reported to the CPS in 1997, a more than fourfold increase over the number reported just 20 years earlier. In our society today, with increased violence and agitation the number has risen dramatically again. SHE ALSO
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stated that caseloads of child protection workers increased dramatically in response to widespread concerns about CSA (child sexual abuse)(Waldfogel)(2). The number of children coming into the child welfare system remain at unacceptably high levels because of substance abuse, poverty, joblessness, housing, and other social problems. This increasingly high number of reports turning into caseloads for social workers has combated the effectiveness of the above CPS process. The average social
1
INTRODUCTION
Child Protective Services (CPS) is a complex system of assessments, investigations, and conclusions. CPS is the central agency in each communities child abuse and neglect service system. It is responsible for ensuring that preventative, investigative, and treatment services are available to children and families endangered by child abuse and neglect. As a result, CPS workers must perform a variety of functions when responding to situations of child maltreatment and play a variety of roles throughout their involvement with child protective clients. Reporting a suspective case of child maltreatment to the local CPS agency (or a family member’s own request for help with the problem) initiates the CPS response process. Once the intake is completed, an investigative process is done, and then the initial assessments and services planning processes are completed. Then the stage is set for implementation of ongoing services(Schene)(1). This description of the process of child protective services sounds acceptable and workable. However, an increasing number of child abuse and neglect cases have presented themselves in recent years. According to Jane Waldfogel, a writer for Child Welfare, about three million children were reported to the CPS in 1997, a more than fourfold increase over the number reported just 20 years earlier. In our society today, with increased violence and agitation the number has risen dramatically again. SHE ALSO
2
stated that caseloads of child protection workers increased dramatically in response to widespread concerns about CSA (child sexual abuse)(Waldfogel)(2). The number of children coming into the child welfare system remain at unacceptably high levels because of substance abuse, poverty, joblessness, housing, and other social problems. This increasingly high number of reports turning into caseloads for social workers has combated the effectiveness of the above CPS process. The average social
Cited: Sec. 1983 of the Federal Civil Rights Act. Http://www.welfareacademy.org (5)