The organization under investigation is Child Protective Services, also referred to as CPS, which is an agency within the Department of Family and Protective Services. CPS is a governmental organization that has existed for years. The agency is designed to protect children from abuse and neglect. There are numerous cases that are called in on a daily basis in the state of Texas, and it is the duty of state employees to address all allegations in a timely manner. The positions held as a caseworker within the agency are either Investigator, Special Investigator, Family Based Safety Services Specialist, or Conservatorship Specialist. Due to the required work and deadlines involved with being a caseworker at CPS, the job can become very …show more content…
The 1874 case of Mary Ellen, was the first criminal case to be tried in the courts regarding abuse of a child (Traux, 2013). The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 1974, was a major turning point in the fight to help protect children. The enactment of CAPTA helped provide federal funding to states in an effort to help with the identification, prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect (National Low Income Housing Coalition (2014). There have been several amendments to CAPTA over the years to help with how the CPS organization operates.
The primary clients that the agency services are the children whom are considered the alleged victims. The organization also works with the parents and any other adult that is considered an alleged perpetrator. As stated on the DFPS website “The mission of The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is to protect children, the elderly, and people with disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation by involving clients, families, and communities”. Child Protective Services was established to investigate all allegations of abuse and/or neglect of children under the age of eighteen. The investigation is usually initiated through an intake-the process where information is received from an outside source- doctor, family, friend, school personnel, law enforcement etc. - to the agency
While it is always necessary to report suspected child abuse. The Department of Human Services (DHS) does not always do the best at ensuring that the children are in the best place for their own well being. After DHS receives the call that a child may be being abused they send out Child Protective Services (CPS) to evaluate wheiter or not a child is being abuse, treat the children if they are injured, and prevent the cycle of abuse and neglect from happening again. CPS and DHS do try and keep the families together if they can but if that is not possible the child is taken out of the custody of the parents and placed into the DHS custody and eventually introduced to foster parents. Children can receive a recommendation
Children’s Protective Services (DHHS) are very systematic on providing consent forms, agency policies, agency and court procedures, and child protection manuals to respondent(s). When an allegation is made, an investigator will reach out to the respondent(s)via phone or visit. During the investigation the respondent(s) is giving a child protection law handbook that explains the entire process, parental rights, court process, parent and attorney responsibilities, foster care, and case timelines. Each investigator handles the process differently based on the allegations.
The controversial issue of whether or not Child Protective Services are doing their jobs properly, has grabbed nationwide attention. Child Protective Services is the name of a government agency in many states of the United States whose mission is to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect. Some of these cases may include physical abuse, sexual abuse, and mental abuse (Wikipedia). The child welfare system is corrupted. The parents and guardians who are accused of abuse are automatically labeled as guilty and will have to prove their innocence; instead of being innocent until proven guilty.
In May of 2013, eight year old Gabriel Fernandez was failed by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. After multiple reports were filed and subsequently ignored, the eight-year-old was repeatedly abused by his mother and her boyfriend, up until the day of his death (Karlamangla). Child Protective Services is a government run agency that deals with reports of child abuse in the United States. A majority of the time, CPS can be successful in taking a child out of a dangerous home. In some instances, however, Child Protective Services can fail and leave the child in a dangerous home. Likewise, CPS occasionally mistakenly removes children who are not in any danger in their safe homes. In recent times, the role of CPS and their accomplishments has been challenged, because of an increase in the amount of minors killed by the hands of their own guardians. If new laws were instilled and the program became more strict, the general public may begin to have a positive opinion towards it. Improvements in how CPS handles their cases could create an all-around safer environment for families and children.
CAPTA is a source of federal funding to states to which were supporting the prevention, assessment, investigation, and the legal prosecution of child abuse, neglect and maltreatment (Timeline 2012). The treatment activities that were formed around the central stop of child abuse, neglect and maltreatment. CAPTA created many mandatory factors which consisted of reporting child maltreatment. It provided funds for research, mandatory training of those workers who are in the process of becoming public service health workers. A good example would be caseworkers and social workers who wish to pursue children and individuals dealing with maltreatment, abuse and neglect cases. Stated previously, CAPTA created a mandate for reporting child maltreatment. CAPTA created a comprehensive child protective system which required states to be capable of handling all aspects of child maltreatment. With the sense of all states capability to handle all aspects they are also held responsible to take all reports which included anonymous reports(Orr N.D.). States were also permitted release information into the hands of other governmental agencies who are in need of such information of clients during current cases, as a form of confidentiality of
Arizona Child Abuse Info Center provides information in addition to training on Arizona legislation requirements on mandated reporting. The site includes a free mandatory reporting training with a pretest and posttest, it also includes training slides on top of video training. The pretest included 14 questions to gauge the level of understanding of the legislation of Arizona for mandated reporting for child abuse. The additional training clarified on the repercussions that can occur if a social worker fails to report suspected child abuse. The result includes a misdemeanor charge, a felony charge, including an administrative reprimand. It is helpful to know that there is immunity to the reporter if the report was made in good faith. That provides protection to the social worker from any civil
I am completing my internship at Adult Protective Services, which a type of services offered through the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. DFPS offers a wide range of services to the community. The Texas Adult Protective Services programs began in the 70s, and it was originally develop to enforce state involvement to protect children, elder adults, and adults with disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. In 2003 the House Bill was passed reorganize and consolidated Health and Human services. This new bill established the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. The new DFPS now includes Child Protective Services (CPS), Adult Protective Services (APS), Child Care Licensing (CCL), and Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI). In 2005 the Texas legislature body transferred the guardianship program from DFPS to the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS).
To carry out their mission, DCS oversees areas of child abuse, foster care, adoption, and juvenile justice. They screen allegations of child abuse to determine if abuse may be present. If sufficient evidence of abuse is present, DCS works with other professionals such as law enforcement agencies to conduct
Through diligent investigation tactics. CPS makes several collateral contacts with schools, medical providers, and service providers such as therapists, neighbors, family resources, and friends. All children are interviewed alone and away from their homes, such as in their school setting. In cases with sexual abuse the children would be interviewed at the CAC (Child Advocacy Center). Depending on the severity of the alleged child abuse the NYPD is also involved and are often part of the interview
In 2002 there was estimated to be nearly 3 million referrals to Child Protective Services (CPS) in the United States, and about 5 million in the year 2000 (McWey & Mullis, 2004). Children who are living in environments that put them in harms way, depending on the situation are generally removed from their home and placed into a foster home in attempts to keep them safe (Carlson, Egeland & Lawrence, 2006). Common examples of Child Protective Service (CPS) referrals include physical abuse, sexual abuse, and psychological maltreatment (McWey & Mullis, 2004). In 2001 it was estimated that nearly 542,000 children were in foster care in the United States and that the number of children in foster care exceeded the number of available foster homes by nearly 30-40% (Carlson, Egeland & Lawrence, 2006). For many children in foster care, reunification with biological parent or parents is the ultimate goal (McWey, Acock & Porter, 2010). In 60% of foster care cases, reunification with biological parents occurs (Carlson, Egeland & Lawrence, 2006) .In order for reunification to be possible, or to help determine whether reunification can occur, children and biological parents have scheduled visits with trained supervisors who monitor the visits (Haight, Kagle & Black, 2003). The duty of the supervisor is to look at the parent child interactions and determine whether or not they are appropriate. Supervised visitation has been shown to have positive and negative effects on children who are
The Term topic I chose to research about is Child Welfare Services. This topic has a variety of different regulations and forms that makes this program run. Child Welfare Services have been around for quite some time and has been helping out as much as they are allowed to. This program has a time line of many important events that all build up the Child Welfare program.
The Child welfare Act of 1980 and the Adoption Assistance provide significant federal financial support for a broad range of child protective services. This includes developing reporting systems, investigation of maltreatment reports, family preservation, reunification services, foster care, and adoption assistance. These policies also aid in supporting the role of the social worker when it comes to improving basic case practice. Mandating child care professionals to register all allegations of child abuse and neglect with authorities, mandating the creation of information systems on children in foster care, and making sure social workers receive proper case planning tools when working with children in foster care (rand.org,
In this research proposal the independent variable is the involvement of Child Protective Services. Child Protective Service’s involvement is measured based on a questionnaire, which ask the participant have they ever had any previous Child Protective Service involvement, and if so when? The research will include both participants who have answered yes and no to this question. Furthermore, if the participant has answered yes, they will only be included if the Child Protective Service involvement was in the last five years.
In Social order,Individualist-reformist, with DHHS we do a lot of work with welfare services to help meet our clients’ needs. We can help assist them with finding resources available to help. I have come across individuals who have a child protective service investigation against them and
The Children’s Bureau was founded in 1912 but did not really do much about child abuse and neglect until 1960.The Department of Children and Family Services has the main focus of protecting children through investigation of suspected abuse or neglect by parent’s caregivers or people in a position of trust with authority over the child (ren). The Social Security Act of 1935 provided money to expand child welfare in 1962. Prior to 1974 the Federal government played a useful but minor role in child protection.