Talk:Child Protective Services

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Contents 1 Self-Revert of 25 June 2006 2 foggeb 3 The Section on Criticism 4 Questioning the incomplete description of Child Protective Services. 5 Can we please get some phone numbers in here! Jesus Christ... 6 Proposed merge from Child and family services 7 Texas 2008 Raid of YFZ Ranch

[edit] Self-Revert of 25 June 2006

I had to remove all content I had added to this entry due to my not having first cleared my contribution or my intent to contribute with my employer. My contribution was made lackadaisically during a thoughtless moment. I regret any confusion caused by my entry and/or my subsequent reversion. -LarryR 17:36, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] foggeb

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[edit] The Section on Criticism

This article previously contained a "criticism" section however this was deleted without explanation. The criticism section included a link to content as per below. Please add a section for "criticism" 202.0.106.130 05:09, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/id1608.html I came across a story about a couple in Show Low, Arizona, making a public plea to get their children back ..... The children were removed from the home ..... The CPS agents involved refused to comment. They pointed out that everything they did was a private matter between themselves and the families involved, and that their operations were protected by law ..... There was no indication that the children were ever harmed. In fact, the children wanted to go home .... legal documents showing that there was an agency in that state that was running amok.

[edit] Questioning the incomplete description of Child Protective Services.

There are numerous functions of Child Protective Services listed on this page, however, there are many more services not indicated.

CPS provides foster care for children found to have been abused or neglected by their caretaker. They also provide foster care to children who have been abandoned due to death or incompetence.

CPS provides medical case management for disabled children in need of excessive care. CPS provides respite care to parents of disabled children, as well as foster caregivers.

CPS provides foster care training and licensing.

Programs within the Child Protective Services agencies provide children who are not adoptable with life skills as they begin to 'age out' of the system.They make sure all kids are safe with the people they are living with.

CPS provides subsidies to children who are placed in kinship care in an effort to maintain family units.

CPS provides a number of services to the community, the most notable being the removal of children for real, or imagined abuse and neglect.

I think it would be fair to note the full extent of the services provided by CPS.

I would also like to mention that another user outlines here the removal of children and the reluctance of CPS to speak out about the removal.

CPS operates under HIPPA guidlines. They are unable, legally, to present protected information to the public without release by authorized individuals.

BJHSCCW 06:52, 18 February 2007 (UTC)BJHSCCW

If I may share some of my own knowledge:

I don't know if this is a federal thing or a state thing, but in my state all of the services you discussed are critical to CPS's functioning but are not provided by CPS per se. They are provided by parallel programs that are also under the Department of Social Services. (Perhaps this is splitting hairs? If so, please ignore the rest of this entry.) Why this is, I'm not sure. And if this is true statewide or nationwide, I have no idea. (Perhaps, as suggested by this article's first footnote, it's a state-by-state thing?) Perhaps, once it is known whether this division of services is county-wide or state-wide or nationwide, an appropriate sentence/paragraph could be added to this article (e.g., "CPS is dependent on other DSS programs for the recruitment, training, etc., of foster care providers, on-going services for children who age out of foster care, etc."?) ?

Also, again, this might be a state-by-state thing but, where I live, CPS's confidentiality rules are not defined by HIPPA but are mandated by long-standing state laws (and practices? policy?) requiring that all information be kept confidential with a few exceptions such as:

• Certain specific information (e.g., whether or not a report is being investigated and what its outcome is) is provided to the reporter.
• Other information might be provided to others on a "need-to-know" basis (e.g., when contacting others for collateral information during an investigation, although in many states a family's approval for such a contact is required in most cases).
• If a worker is providing or assisting the family with services then, if the family permits, a worker can share the family's information with another professional (e.g., mental health provider).
• The vast majority of information (e.g., case dictation) can only be revealed if a judge orders it (e.g., during a criminal court proceeding). (Various types of summaries are also provided during CPS-related child-placement court proceedings.)
• I've also been told that, in my state, when a child (whose family has been previously involved with CPS) turns 18 y/o they are allowed to look at their own case record (although the reporter's name and identifying information would be blacked out).

Hope this might be of use. 24.136.229.74 04:32, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Can we please get some phone numbers in here! Jesus Christ...

This article is as about as helpful as shit on a stick. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.117.103.181 (talk) 03:34, 26 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Proposed merge from Child and family services

I must admit that I am not an expert on the way the child protection system operates in the United States, but as far as I can tell, the current article on Child and family services seems to be rather US-centric (using terms such as "the nation") - even though it appears to try to present a generalist historical overview - which I think may be better merged in here. Would contributors with a better understanding of the topic agree? I must admit, the organisation of all of the articles relating to this topic seem as though they could do with restructuring. DWaterson (talk) 12:15, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Based on my reading of the Child and family services article, it appears to be talking about related but different organizations. CPS (as described in this article) is a governmental agency; the agencies discussed in Child and family services appear to be non-governmental agencies that receive referrals from CPS (and other?) agencies. (What might be confusing is that "Child & Family Services" [where each word begins with a capital letter] might be the name that some U.S. states have chosen to call their CPS agency.) So, without currently having time to read the other article all the way through, I'm guessing these "child and family services" agencies includes organizations that provide help with mental-health services, etc. (Does the other article elaborate on specific services in any particular way?) In other words: these articles appear to deal with two different (though related) institutions and thus, at least in my thinking, should not be merged as they are currently worded.

Tangentally, FWIW, I'm a little concerned about the other article's history's section lacking any citations/references. In addition, the other article contains some scary inaccuracies. For instance, in it's "Evolution" section it states:

The formal system through which society responds to child abuse and neglect is now largely a governmental one. Today, primary responsibility for child protection is vested in public child protective services (CPS) agencies, which receive, investigate, and respond to reports of child abuse and neglect. These agencies are usually linked to child welfare departments with broader responsibilities which include foster care and adoption. Usually at this point, the parents lose their right to take care of their children because they are seen to be unfit parents....

This last sentence appears to me to be either misleading or untrue. (Governmental stats for this are available on-line.) The vast majority of families that are assessed/investigated by CPS do not have their children removed from the home. (I think the last time I checked my local agency's stats, it was something like only 10% are removed and less than 5% are removed permanently.) Right after stating this, the Child and family services article goes onto state:

Today, it is against the law to not report child abuse if evident.

Again, for better or worse, this is not true. Frankly, I once thought it was true myself but my agency's attorney subsequently pointed out that the law makes a distinction between "may," "should," "shall," "might," and "must" report. At the end of this CPS article, it has links to state laws that describe what is what. Essentially, I think many (perhaps most? all?) U.S. state laws articulate that people "should" or "shall" report; I'm not sure which, if any, say that everyone is required ("must") report (though I think all U.S. states require that medical personnel report child maltreatment since the late 1960's, etc.).

I don't watch this page (basically just to keep my blood pressure down :-) ) so if you'd like me to respond further, please leave me a note on my talk page or send me an e-mail. (I know I used a lot of weasel words in the above tangent -- so if you need the assertions firmed up and can't find that stats yourself on the web, just let me know and give me time :-) ) Hope this might help,

Larry Rosenfeld (talk) 20:05, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Texas 2008 Raid of YFZ Ranch

Why is this section here in the article, and in it's current state? It is basically the same text as found in a section of YFZ Ranch. If there isn't going to be anything new or different here, there should just be a See also to YFZ Ranch & be done with it. -- 63.224.135.113 (talk) 05:53, 15 May 2008 (UTC)