Child Protective Services

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Child Protective Services (CPS) is the name of a governmental agency in many states in the United States that responds to allegations of child abuse or neglect. Some states use other names, often attempting to reflect more family-centered (as opposed to child-centered) practices, such as "Department of Children & Family Services" (DCFS). CPS is also known by the name of "Department of Social Services" (DSS) or simply "Social Services."[1]

Contents

[edit] Functions

CPS agencies generally perform a series of functions that can be identified as follows:

  1. Intake: Receive reports of child maltreatment allegations. In most states, everyone is a mandatory reporter, with the following exceptions: attorneys representing clients on child-maltreatment criminal charges; and, substance-abuse treatment providers.
  2. Screening the Report: determine if a received report's allegations meet statutory definitions for child maltreatment. If statutory definitions are met, then the report is accepted for investigation/assessment; otherwise, it is screened out and might be forwarded to another agency.
  3. Investigation/Assessment: if a received report is accepted, then CPS "investigates" or "assesses" the allegations through contacts with the family and pertinent collateral-information providers. Home visits are usually included although different states have different restrictions regarding this.
  4. Case Decision: if the child-maltreatment allegations prove sufficiently credible and/or if the family is in need of services to prevent future maltreatment (independent of the parents/caregivers' actions), either involuntary or voluntary post-investigative services are generally provided.
  5. Treatment/Case Management: CPS case-management/treatment services are provided to a family to prevent or address child maltreatment. If the child's remaining in the home creates an imminent or significant long-term risk to the child's safety, then arrangement for the child's placement outside of the home is made either with the family's consent or through the courts. (See also, foster care.)
  6. Case Closure: if the case decision found no need for follow-up services by CPS, or if the family and/or community has addressed all risk factors that lead to the provision of CPS case-management services, or if a family's rights to a child is terminated and the child has been adopted, then the case can be closed.

[edit] Laws and standards

[edit] Federal

U.S. federal laws that govern CPS agencies include:

[edit] State and local

Definitions: Each state must also have statutes that provide more detailed definitions of what child maltreatment means, for instance, defining terms such as:

  1. abuse, which might include:
    • physical abuse
    • sexual abuse
    • emotional abuse (not recognized by all states)
  2. neglect, which might include:
    • lack of supervision
    • failure to provide necessary medical or remedial care
    • inappropriate discipline
    • exposure to domestic violence
    • exposure to parental substance abuse
  3. alleged perpetrator, which might include:
    • parents
    • other relatives
    • other in-home adults
    • guardians, custodians, caregiver/caretaker
    • daycare staff (not all states)
    • residential treatment (e.g., group home) staff (not all states)

Activities: States must articulate how a CPS agency is to respond to alleged maltreatment including:

  • timeframes for responding to different levels of child maltreatment
  • manner in which reporters are provided follow-up information (e.g., case disposition letters)
  • confidentiality restrictions (e.g., which may differ during the investigative and case-management phases)
  • conflict-of-interest cases (e.g., a CPS agency would not investigate a report against their own staff)

Additionally, state and local CPS-related institutions will develop policies and practices that further shape communities' response to child maltreatment. Examples include:

  • Coordinating efforts between CPS, law enforcement, schools, mental health and other institutions.
  • Providing further standards for defining maltreatment, such as how does one define "inappropriate discipline."
  • Maintaining records and/or centralized databases regarding reports and families.
  • Appeal processes, if any.
  • CPS-related court processes.

[edit] History

In 1655, in what is now the United States, there were criminal court cases involving child abuse.[2] In 1692, states and municipalities identified care for abused and neglected children as the responsibility of local government and private institutions.[3] In 1696, England first used the legal principle of parens patriae, which gave the royal crown care of "charities, infants, idiots, and lunatics returned to the chancery." This principal of parens patriae has been identified as the statutory basis for U.S. governmental intervention in families' child rearing practices.[4]

In 1825, states enacted laws giving social-welfare agencies the right to remove neglected children from their parents and from the streets. These children were placed in almshouses, in orphanages and with other families. In 1835, the Humane Society founded the National Federation of Child Rescue agencies to investigate child maltreatment. In the late-1800s, private child protection agencies — modeled after existing animal protection organizations — developed to investigate reports of child maltreatment, present cases in court and advocate for child welfare legislation.[5]

In 1912, the federal Children's Bureau was established to manage federal child welfare efforts, including services related to child maltreatment. In 1958, amendments to the Social Security Act mandated that states fund child protection efforts.[6] In 1962, professional and media interest in child maltreatment was sparked by the publication of C. Henry Kempe and associates' "The battered child syndrome" in JAMA. By the mid-1960s, in response to public concern that resulted from this article, 49 U.S. states passed child-abuse reporting laws.[7] In 1974, these efforts by the states culminated in the passage of the federal "Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act" (P.L. 93-247) providing federal funding for wide-ranging federal and state child-maltreatment research and services.[8]

[edit] In the public eye

The CPS system has numerous detractors, including those who believe that the state forcibly removing children from their homes and families is the ultimate dehumanization.

Brenda Scott, in her study of CPS concluded, "Child Protective Services is out of control. The system, as it operates today, should be scrapped. If children are to be protected in their homes and in the system, radical new guidelines must be adopted. At the core of the problem is the antifamily mindset of CPS. Removal is the first resort, not the last. With in-sufficient checks and balances, the system that was designed to protect children has become the greatest perpetrator of harm." [9]

Many experts who work in the industry meanwhile believe the government fails to do enough.

Professor Ted Melhuish in his research of December 7, 2006 presents the case for additional government intervention in terms of "Rates of Return to Human Capital investment." Citing a 1993 study of 123 young African-American children he finds early intervention ultimately contributes to greater tax revenue and also identifies possible cost savings in the areas justice, mental health and welfare. The study concludes that every dollar invested in Child Protective Services produces a return of $7.16 Why Early Intervention?

[edit] Texas 2008 Raid of YFZ Ranch

Main article: YFZ Ranch

In April 2008, many raised questions as the CPS in Texas removed every minor child and infant from the YFZ Ranch polygamist community, with the assistance of heavily armed police with an armored personnel carrier. They convinced a judge that they had sufficient evidence to conclude that all of the children were at risk of suffering from child abuse as they were being groomed for under-age marriage.

The children were removed from a homes with specific reports of abuse to the The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services had itself been an object of reports of unusual numbers of poisonings, death, rapes and pregnancies of children under its care since 2004. The Texas Family and Protective Services Crisis Management Team was created by executive order after the critical report Forgotten Children of 2004. Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn made a statement in 2006 about the Texas foster care system.[10] In Fiscal 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively 30, 38 and 48 foster children died in the state's care. The number of foster children in the state's care increased 24 percent to 32,474 in Fiscal 2005, while the number of deaths increased 60 percent. Compared to the general population, a child is four times more likely to die in the Texas foster care system. In 2004, about 100 children were treated for poisoning from medications; 63 were treated for rape that occurred while under state care including four-year old twin boys, and 142 children gave birth.

The report stated that children were being unnecessarily neglected and abused and dying. A 12-year-old boy died in December 2005, suffocated while being restrained from behind by an employee of the facility. Another died May 30, after drowning in a creek during a bicycle outing. A three-year old was treated for poisoning from an atypical, mind-altering anti-psychotic drug.

Gene Grounds of Victim Relief Ministries reported no hysteria or crying children from children removed from the ranch. He commended CPS workers as exhibiting compassion, professionalism and caring concern.[11] However, CPS performance was questioned by workers from the Hill Country Community Mental Health-Mental Retardation Center. One wrote "I have never seen women and children treated this poorly, not to mention their civil rights being disregarded in this manner" after assisting at the emergency shelter. Others who were previously forbidden to discuss conditions working with CPS later produced unsigned written reports expressed anger at the CPS traumatizing the children, and disregarding rights of mothers who appeared to be good parents of healthy, well-behaved children. CPS threatened some MHMR workers with arrest, and the entire mental health support was dismissed the second week due to being "too compassionate." Workers believed poor sanitary conditions at the shelter allowed respiratory infections and chicken pox to spread. [12]

[edit] Popular media

Popular television accounts relating to CPS include:

[edit] Cases of CPS abuses against families

cases include:

Governmental inquiries of CPS misconduct include:

[edit] Call for Reform

Brenda Scott has called for reform in CPS:

"1. State statutes need to be revised to more precisely define abuse and neglect.

2. Anonymous tips should not be considered grounds for intervention....

3. Every interrogation of a child should be video taped in its entirety, and a copy of that tape should be made immediately available to the defendant. CPS workers should not be allowed to badger the child, relentlessly pursuing an accusation....

4. The use of polygraphs, penile plethysmographs, anatomical dolls, and aggressive questioning should be banned....

5. Confidentiality laws are being abused to protect CPS from proper investigation. These laws should only limit revealing the names of the parties involved....

6. There must be accountability within the system. Independent review boards should be set up in each state to hear complaints from parents and other parties who have been accused....

7. Child protective agencies should be stripped of their police powers. If an initial screening of a complaint indicates that further investigation is warranted, then the case should be turned over to police officers trained in objective investigation. At all times, the rights of the accused, as well as the alleged victim, should be respected.

8. Children should only be removed from their homes if their physical safety is seriously jeopardized by remaining home during the investigative stage. Family preservation should be attempted in all but the most violent cases....

9. In the case of a charge of sexual abuse, if the accused parent leaves the house, the child should be allowed to remain in the home, in the custody of the other parent.

10. If a child is removed from the home, relatives should receive first consideration for foster care....

11. While in foster care, daily phone calls and visits should be allowed....

12. Children in foster care should be placed as close to home as possible, and siblings should be placed together whenever possible....

13. Eliminate the policy of some counties to require therapy for everyone entering the system....

14. Eliminate standard strip-search as part of the initial interview. Children are horribly traumatized by being stripped, photographed, and poked at by a stranger....

15. Instruct that CPS will operate under an assumption of innocence until guilt is proven....

16. The charge of educational neglect should be dropped.

17. CPS should not be allowed to order separations or divorce without a hearing....

18. No name should be placed on the Central Registry until he or she has willingly confessed to abuse or until he or she has been found guilty....

19. Allow the accused the right to choose his own counsel, his experts, and review all the evidence.

20. Require higher educational requirements of therapists and social workers and stricter standards for foster homes....

"The current CPS system is morally bankrupt, and drastic changes are required to protect children and families." [13]

[edit] Responsibility for misconduct

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution includes this text:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Title 42 United States Code Section 1983 states:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.

In May 2007, the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found in ROGERS v. COUNTY OF SAN JOAQUIN, No. 05-16071 that a CPS social worker acting without due process and without exigency (emergency conditions) violated the 14th Amendment and Title 42 United State Code Section 1983.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Technically, CPS is usually a unit within a state's or county's DSS with the latter also including programs for assistance with Medicaid, Food Stamps, child support, public housing, Adult Protective Services, and foster care and adoptions. For examples, see the web pages for the DSS's of California, Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri, New York's Nassau County, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota and Virginia.
  2. ^ Pecora et al. (1992), p. 231.
  3. ^ Ibid., pp. 230-1.
  4. ^ Ibid., p. 230.
  5. ^ Pecora et al. (1992), pp. 230-31; Petr (1998), p. 126.
  6. ^ Laird & Michael (2006).
  7. ^ Pecora et al. (1992), p. 232; Petr (1998), p. 126.
  8. ^ Pecora et al. (1992), pp. 232-3; Petr (1998), pp. 126-7.
  9. ^ Scott, Brenda (1994) Out of Control. Who's Watching Our Child Protection Agencies? p. 179
  10. ^ Comptroller Strayhorn Statement On Foster Care Abuse June 23, 2006
  11. ^ Richardson group: Polygamists' children are OK April 18, 2008 BY JANET ST. JAMES / WFAA-TV
  12. ^ .Crotea, Roger. "Mental health workers rip CPS over sect", San Antonio Express-news , 10 May 2008. 
  13. ^ Scott, Brenda (1994) Out of Control. Who's Watching Our Child Protection Agencies? pps 182-185

[edit] References

  • Laird, David and Jennifer Michael (2006). "Budgeting Child Welfare: How will millions cut from the federal budget affect the child welfare system?" Published in: Child Welfare League of America, Children's Voice, Vol. 15, No. 4 (July/August 2006). Available on-line at: http://www.cwla.org/voice/0607budgeting.htm.
  • Pecora, Peter J., James K. Whittaker, Anthony N. Maluccio, with Richard P. Barth and Robert D. Plotnick (1992). The Child Welfare Challenge: Policy, Practice, and Research. NY:Aldine de Gruyter. ISBN 0-202-36082-2.
  • Petr, Christopher G. (1998). Social Work with Children and their Families: Pragmatic Foundations. NY:Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510607-5.

[edit] External links

[edit] United States

[edit] Canada

[edit] Criticism

  • Child Protective Services – An American Evil Part 1,2
  • Child Protection Reform: Absolute Power Corrupts ...... Absolutely [1]
  • Children Hostages In Life’s Derangement [2]