NationStates Jolt Archive

I am having the worst day...I had to call Child Protective Services on one of my clients. I've been working with this family for a year and a half and I am very upset because I don't know if my agency will still be able to work with them if CPS takes the case. Anyway, this is why I'm not posting much today...too much crap to do and a buttload of documenting is in order. You can leave comments if you want. Here are some random topics relating to this:

-any experiences with CPS?
-what do you think they do?
-any experiences with child abuse?
-any bad days?

CPS is another one of those agencies w/ too little oversight. I've seen them go after parents for trivial issues (bruised knees from wrestling) and ignore cases where the kids were living in filthy conditions.

It's way to subjective.

it really depends on where you are what CPs will do to investigate, most of the time (afaik) they go and interview the family and talk to the kids (sometimes have them checked out medically) and make a report. The reports get a rating, 1- children need to be removed immediately, severe danger
2- children need to be removed soon if no improvement, likely danger
3- suspicion of abuse, situation monitered closely
4- no overt evidence of abuse, will revisit situation in <time> (sometimes it's a few weeks sometimes 6 months)
5- no evidence of abuse, case dismissed.

if you have a situation like in level 1 or 2 then the kids almost always go into foster care, usually in 1 for a while and in 2 for a short time until things at home can be taken care of (like water turned back on, abusive boyfriend moves out, ect.)

in the rest the kids almost always get to stay with the parents only now they are "being watched" to see if anything develops.


I have some experience with CPs from both directions (being a child when they were called, and being an adult who alerted them of a situation) there are people who are generally trying to do the best job they can, but most of the time they are overscheduled (the one I am talking to right now has 5300 open cases) so if you want info you have to either be really patient or really bother them a lot.

why did you need to call?

My best guy friend stuckk his hand down my shirt today. That wasn't so pleasant. The dude's frickin' ugly.

Bad days are more interesting than CPS.

my kids father is a cps worker, i know several people who work in cps, abused persons units, and in various social services agencies that serve abused and neglected kids.

what a crappy job. cases where you know you need to pull the kids, but your hands are tied by laws and you can't. cases where you have to pull the kids and know that it's unnecessary. more ugliness than you could ever imagine. you know the stuff you hear about on tv? there is so much more that you don't.

CPS is another one of those agencies w/ too little oversight. I've seen them go after parents for trivial issues (bruised knees from wrestling) and ignore cases where the kids were living in filthy conditions.

It's way to subjective.

Yes. Sadly it is true, but they need to prioritize.

Yes. Sadly it is true, but they need to prioritize.
it's hard to when you have nearly 6,000 cases, all of which have to be checked up on a lot, and then you have idiot senators writing idiot laws that govern what you can and can't say or do in situations that they have never been in, nor do they know left from right if they ever were in them.

although I am dealing with a situation right now that isn't going the way I think it should, so I could be talking out of turn.

I have an insane amount of respect for people who work in that field. Seriously. It is probably one of the most emotionally involved jobs I have ever heard of, dealing with children and what not. Plus, you probably get the jackasses fighting more for promotion than the children.

No doubt, there are probably a lot of times when things /do/ go right, and that must be rewarding.

CPS is way too small for that the number of cases that come in. They need more support. And parents need to think before they act.

No experiences with it. We have the Jugendamt ("Youth office", I suppose) over here and I've never been involved with any cases that desperately needed intervention when I was working at a children's and youth's center in Munich.

But take some eSympathy. You really sound like you need it. :)

CPS is another one of those agencies w/ too little oversight. I've seen them go after parents for trivial issues (bruised knees from wrestling) and ignore cases where the kids were living in filthy conditions.

It's way to subjective.

you know, cps doesn't just "go after" people for things. someone has to place a report and it has to be fairly credible. even when anonymous. just seeing a bruise on a kid isn't going to get a cps worker out to see a kid. there has to be some question as to the circumstances.

for example, not every broken arm is goin to cause an er doc to be suspicious. however a sprial fracture is going to trigger some concern. they might call cps to investigate to save their own ass. there could be a very valid reason for such a fracture, and a cps worker will call a case unfounded if that's true. most anyone who works with kids (teachers, doctors, etc) is a mandated reporter and is required to call cps if there is any question about mistreatment, neglect or abuse. the determination is cps' to make, not theirs. if you talk to a cps worker, many of their cases are unfounded. i think most of them would prefer it that way.

you know, cps doesn't just "go after" people for things. someone has to place a report and it has to be fairly credible. even when anonymous. just seeing a bruise on a kid isn't going to get a cps worker out to see a kid. there has to be some question as to the circumstances.

for example, not every broken arm is goin to cause an er doc to be suspicious. however a sprial fracture is going to trigger some concern. they might call cps to investigate to save their own ass. there could be a very valid reason for such a fracture, and a cps worker will call a case unfounded if that's true. most anyone who works with kids (teachers, doctors, etc) is a mandated reporter and is required to call cps if there is any question about mistreatment, neglect or abuse. the determination is cps' to make, not theirs. if you talk to a cps worker, many of their cases are unfounded. i think most of them would prefer it that way.

The situation was:

Friend was wrestling w/ tomboy daughter on lawn. Busy body neighbor called CPS and told them he was "abusing" her. CPS showed up w/ police. Even after he explained the situation, they informed him that he would have to go to parenting classes or would be arrested.

The other situation:

Acquantances of my wife were supposed to be checked out by CPS after County Health met the kids. They were filthy and smelled of cat urine. This is they regular condition of these kids. On the day of the visit, the mom called to have it cancelled because they were "sick". CPS never followed up.

I'm not univrsally condemning them, but they, along w/ most alphabet soup organizations, need more oversight.

The situation was:

Friend was wrestling w/ tomboy daughter on lawn. Busy body neighbor called CPS and told them he was "abusing" her. CPS showed up w/ police. Even after he explained the situation, they informed him that he would have to go to parenting classes or would be arrested.

it sounds like there is info missing from this story. usually cps is going to call police or police will call cps in, depending on who was called first...but a determination isn't usually going to be made on the spot like that about parenting classes. an arrest or no, yes, but not determination of a cps case. i mean, every place is different, so who knows.


The other situation:

Acquantances of my wife were supposed to be checked out by CPS after County Health met the kids. They were filthy and smelled of cat urine. This is they regular condition of these kids. On the day of the visit, the mom called to have it cancelled because they were "sick". CPS never followed up.
.

you're right. they should have.

and i'm not defending all cps workers, either. as with all jobs, there are plenty of bad workers out there. i can only speak to the oversight that i see happening in my area, but to be sure, there are lots of places (new jersey and florida come to mind, right off the bat) that have had systemic problems with their cps departments, and certainly more work needs to be done there.

I'll just cut and paste from the Reportable Incident form. Let's see what you guys think of it.

When FSW (Family Support Worker - me) visited family as scheduled on 4/4/06, MOB (mother) and FOB (father) said that Ba (baby - he is 16 months old) had seen the doctor the previous day (4/3/06) because he had been throwing up for two weeks. The doctor told the family to take Ba to the hospital right away, where Ba had an X-ray. The x-ray showed a stomach and/or colon blockage. MOB said that a doctor told her it was caused by Ba not being fed for too long and then when he was fed, he severely overate. Because this happened several times, Ba’s ability to properly digest food became impaired, resulting in the blockage.

MOB was given instructions to give Ba prune juice and pedialyte, and she was also given some unidentified medicine to give Ba; MOB said that she has not given Ba the medicine because he seemed to be getting better with the prune juice. FOB told FSW that MOB’s father tried to feed Ba a chicken nugget that day (4/4/06) but Ba threw it up; MOB told FSW that Ba’s diet mainly consists of whole milk and food from McDonald’s, and baby food very occasionally. MOB and her family has had difficulties with how much food to feed Ba, what kind of food to feed him, and when to feed him since his birth. MOB’s home is also very dirty, cluttered, and unsafe. Despite FSW’s repeated attempts to educate the family about proper feeding and nutrition and home safety over the course of more than a year, there appear to be no changes made. MOB is documented to be mentally retarded, and FOB, MOB’s father, and the other people who care for Ba also appear to have some degree of mental retardation.

FSW talked to MOB and FOB about the seriousness of the situation, and said that she would continue to bring them information about feeding and nutrition. FSW also discussed the function and process of a Child Protective Services investigation because MOB said she was very worried that Ba would be removed from the home. FSW did not tell the family that a call to CPS would definitely be made, but did say that a report could be made to CPS by somebody who is worried about what is happening in the home; MOB is aware that there are several people who are concerned for Ba’s safety while under her care.

When FSW met with her supervisor the next day (4/5/06), FSW was instructed to make a report to CPS, which she did. FSW and supervisor then immediately went to MOB’s house and gave FOB several bags of food that would be appropriate to feed Ba and information about what to feed Ba, how much to feed him, and when to feed him. MOB and Ba were not present; the family was not informed of the CPS report.

I'll just cut and paste from the Reportable Incident form. Let's see what you guys think of it.



Being the cynic that I am, I'ld lay money down that the kid will be dead or irreparebly harmed before anything beyond "reports" or "continued education" is done.

I'll just cut and paste from the Reportable Incident form. Let's see what you guys think of it.

When FSW (Family Support Worker - me) visited family as scheduled on 4/4/06, MOB (mother) and FOB (father) said that Ba (baby - he is 16 months old) had seen the doctor the previous day (4/3/06) because he had been throwing up for two weeks. The doctor told the family to take Ba to the hospital right away, where Ba had an X-ray. The x-ray showed a stomach and/or colon blockage. MOB said that a doctor told her it was caused by Ba not being fed for too long and then when he was fed, he severely overate. Because this happened several times, Ba’s ability to properly digest food became impaired, resulting in the blockage.

MOB was given instructions to give Ba prune juice and pedialyte, and she was also given some unidentified medicine to give Ba; MOB said that she has not given Ba the medicine because he seemed to be getting better with the prune juice. FOB told FSW that MOB’s father tried to feed Ba a chicken nugget that day (4/4/06) but Ba threw it up; MOB told FSW that Ba’s diet mainly consists of whole milk and food from McDonald’s, and baby food very occasionally. MOB and her family has had difficulties with how much food to feed Ba, what kind of food to feed him, and when to feed him since his birth. MOB’s home is also very dirty, cluttered, and unsafe. Despite FSW’s repeated attempts to educate the family about proper feeding and nutrition and home safety over the course of more than a year, there appear to be no changes made. MOB is documented to be mentally retarded, and FOB, MOB’s father, and the other people who care for Ba also appear to have some degree of mental retardation.

FSW talked to MOB and FOB about the seriousness of the situation, and said that she would continue to bring them information about feeding and nutrition. FSW also discussed the function and process of a Child Protective Services investigation because MOB said she was very worried that Ba would be removed from the home. FSW did not tell the family that a call to CPS would definitely be made, but did say that a report could be made to CPS by somebody who is worried about what is happening in the home; MOB is aware that there are several people who are concerned for Ba’s safety while under her care.

When FSW met with her supervisor the next day (4/5/06), FSW was instructed to make a report to CPS, which she did. FSW and supervisor then immediately went to MOB’s house and gave FOB several bags of food that would be appropriate to feed Ba and information about what to feed Ba, how much to feed him, and when to feed him. MOB and Ba were not present; the family was not informed of the CPS report.

not that it's any of my business or anything, nor that you probably can do anything about it, but the kid sounds like he needs to be tested for Celiac disease, it was almost the same situation when my youngest (finally) got diagnosed, she dropped from 23lbs to 11lbs in 3 weeks, no matter how much I fed her she wouldn't gain weight, she threw everything up, had an intestinal blockage and everything. Yeah, I know that's not much help.

not that it's any of my business or anything, nor that you probably can do anything about it, but the kid sounds like he needs to be tested for Celiac disease, it was almost the same situation when my youngest (finally) got diagnosed, she dropped from 23lbs to 11lbs in 3 weeks, no matter how much I fed her she wouldn't gain weight, she threw everything up, had an intestinal blockage and everything. Yeah, I know that's not much help.

Well, the long and short of it is that the child's parents, grandparents, and the friends of the child's parents are all mentally retarded. The baby's mother can't remember things, she doesn't understand a lot, and she's mentally about 12 years old. We figured we'd be making a call sometime, we just didn't know how bad it would get before we'd have to.

Being the cynic that I am, I'ld lay money down that the kid will be dead or irreparebly harmed before anything beyond "reports" or "continued education" is done.

Gee, thanks, I'm SO GLAD I posted this so you could make me feel so much fking worse.

My best guy friend stuckk his hand down my shirt today. That wasn't so pleasant. The dude's frickin' ugly.

Bad days are more interesting than CPS.

You know, that's happened to me. It's not fun. My sympathies.

my kids father is a cps worker, i know several people who work in cps, abused persons units, and in various social services agencies that serve abused and neglected kids.

what a crappy job. cases where you know you need to pull the kids, but your hands are tied by laws and you can't. cases where you have to pull the kids and know that it's unnecessary. more ugliness than you could ever imagine. you know the stuff you hear about on tv? there is so much more that you don't.

Ugh, tell me about it. I could never work for CPS.

I have an insane amount of respect for people who work in that field. Seriously. It is probably one of the most emotionally involved jobs I have ever heard of, dealing with children and what not. Plus, you probably get the jackasses fighting more for promotion than the children.

No doubt, there are probably a lot of times when things /do/ go right, and that must be rewarding.

This is true. Thanks for the props. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to take it anyway...

But take some eSympathy. You really sound like you need it. :)

Thank you, hot guy. :cool: