Child Protection Course

Chapter 2: Child Protective Services Practice

 Child protective services (CPS), a division within State and local social
services, is at the center of every community’s child protection efforts. In
Introduction most jurisdictions, CPS is the agency mandated by law to conduct an initial
assessment or investigation of reports of child abuse and neglect.
to
It also offers services to families and children where maltreatment has
Child occurred or is likely to occur. CPS does not work alone. Many community
professionals—including law enforcement officers, health care providers,
Protective mental health professionals, educators, legal and court system personnel,
and substitute care providers—are involved in efforts to prevent, identify,
Services investigate, and treat child abuse and neglect.
Practice In addition, community-based and faith-based organizations, substance
abuse treatment facilities, advocates for victims of domestic violence,
extended family members, and concerned citizens, among others, also play
important roles in supporting families and keeping children safe from harm.
Typically, CPS is the lead agency in coordinating the efforts of the various
disciplines working to protect children and to educate the community about
the problems of child abuse and neglect.
  The philosophical basis on which CPS is founded;
 • The responsibilities of CPS and its roles and relationships
with other community agencies and professionals;
 • The nature of the “helping relationship” and use of
authority in working with children and families;
Purpose and  • The purposes, key decisions, and practice issues for the
Overview following stages of the CPS process: — Intake — Initial
assessment or investigation — Comprehensive family
assessment — Planning — Service provision — Evaluation
of family progress — Case closure
 • The effective documentation of actions in case records
and information systems; • The strategies for casework
supervision, training, consultation, and support.
 The basis for child protective services (CPS) is a concern for the care of
children, which is expressed through laws established in every State. The
legal authority and the mandates that evolved from child abuse laws are
described in A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The
Foundation for Practice. These laws do not specify all that must be done to
assist families and children, but they do provide a framework within which
Theory and action can be taken.
Practice The basic philosophical tenets of CPS include the following: A safe and
permanent home and family is the best place for children to grow up. Every
child has a right to adequate care and supervision and to be free from
abuse, neglect, and exploitation. It is the responsibility of parents to see
that the physical, mental, emotional, educational, and medical needs of
their children are adequately met. CPS should intervene only when parents
request assistance or fail, by their acts or omissions, to meet their children’s
basic needs and keep them safe.
  • Ecological perspective. This perspective conceptualizes human behavior
and social functioning within an environmental context. Personal, family,
and environmental factors interact with each other to influence the family.
Child maltreatment is viewed as the consequence of the interplay
between a complex set of risk and protective factors at the individual,
family, community, and society levels.
 • Strength-based perspective. This perspective refers to practice methods
FRAMEWORK and strategies that draw upon the strengths of children, families, and
communities. Strength-based practice involves a shift from a deficit
FOR approach, which emphasizes problems and pathology, to a positive
partnership with the family. The assessments focus on the complex
PRACTICE interplay of risks and strengths related to individual family members, the
family as a unit, and the broader neighborhood and environment.
 • Developmental perspective. This perspective refers to understanding
individual growth and development and family development from a
lifespan perspective, and examines individuals and families interacting
with their environments over the course of time. Effective case planning
takes into account which interventions are effective with a specific child or
family problem,
  Permanency planning orientation. This orientation holds that all
children have a right to a permanent home. Child welfare service
delivery should focus on safely maintaining children in their own homes
or, if necessary, placing them permanently with other families.
Interventions include a set of goal-directed activities designed to help
children live in safe families who offer a sense of belonging and legal,
lifetime family ties.
FRAMEWORK  • Cultural competence perspective. This perspective requires CPS
practitioners to understand the perspective of clients or peers who may
FOR come from culturally diverse backgrounds and to adapt their practice
accordingly. Basic cultural competence is achieved when organizations
PRACTICE and practitioners accept and respect differences, engage in ongoing
cultural self-assessment, expand their diversity knowledge and skills,
and adapt service models to fit the target populations, culture,
situation, and perceived needs.3
 Developing a helping relationship with abused and neglected children and
their families is critical to changing the conditions or patterns of behavior
that contributed to the risk of maltreatment. Experience has demonstrated
that successful intervention and treatment depend heavily on the quality of
the caseworker’s relationship with the children and family.
Developing helping alliances with families and children at risk for child
maltreatment is challenging because they may have a history of difficulties in
The Helping forming and sustaining mutually supportive, interpersonal relationships, and
they may not have had positive relationships with formal systems, such as
Relationship schools, social services, or counseling services.
Whether one’s role is interviewing family members as part of the initial
assessment or investigation, or determining what must change to reduce the
risk of maltreatment and improve outcomes for risk reduction, the quality of
the caseworker’s effort is directly dependent on his or her ability to develop a
collaborative relationship
  Researchers have defined three core conditions that are essential to the
helping relationship:
 • Empathy: Empathy is the ability to perceive and communicate with
sensitivity the feelings and experiences of Child Protective Services: A
Guide for Caseworkers 17 Child Protective Services: A Guide for
Caseworkers 19 another person by being an active responder rather than a
passive listener. Empathy is a process of attempting to experience another
person’s world and then communicating an understanding of, and
CORE compassion for, the other’s experience.
 • Respect :Respect refers to the caseworker’s communication of
CONDITIONS acceptance, caring, and concern for the children and family. It involves
valuing the individual family members as people, separate from any
OF THE evaluation of their behavior or thoughts, although this does not mean that
caseworkers sanction or approve thoughts or behaviors that society may
HELPING disapprove.
RELATIONSHIP  • Genuineness: Genuineness refers to caseworkers being themselves. This
means simply that caseworkers are consistent in what they say and do,
nondefensively, and authentic. They must have clear knowledge and an
acceptance of the agency’s authority, procedures, and policies, and of their
professional role—both in its meaning to the worker and the meaning to
abused and neglected children and their families. Genuineness means
integrating who we are and our role in the agency with acceptance of
children and families and a commitment to their welfare. If this occurs,
then what caseworkers say will match their attitudes and beliefs
 One form of client resistance that is particularly difficult for CPS caseworkers to manage
is anger and hostility. The following are techniques for deescalating anger:
• Remain calm; try not to show fear or anxiety.
• Be firm without raising one’s voice.
• Make statements simple and direct.
Techniques for • Recognize and address feelings and do not take hostile statements personally.

Handling • Offer the person a choice between positive alternatives. • Be alert for the possibility of
aggression.
Hostile and • Attempt to have the person sit down, and distract him or her from the source of anger.
Angry • Give the person lots of space; do not touch them.

Situations • If the person attacks, use only enough force to protect yourself or restrain him or her.
• Remember it takes a person 30-40 minutes to calm down physiologically.
• After the visit, do not sit in front of the house to write notes.
• Carry a cell phone, whistle, or personal alarm and use it, if appropriate.
• Pay attention to intuition or “gut instinct,” and leave if warranted.
 According to the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators (NAPCWA),
the mission of the child protective services (CPS) agency is to:
• Assess the safety of children;

Responsibilitie • Intervene to protect children from harm;

s of Child • Strengthen the ability of families to protect their children;

• Provide either a reunification or an alternative, safe family for the child.
Protective CPS is the central agency in each community that receives reports of suspected child
Services abuse and neglect; assesses the risk to and safety of children; and provides or arranges
for services to achieve safe, permanent families for children who have been abused or
neglected or who are at risk of abuse or neglect.
 INTAKE
CPS is responsible for receiving and evaluating
reports of suspected child abuse and neglect,
determines if the reported information meets the
Responsibilitie statutory and agency guidelines for child
s of Child maltreatment, and judges the urgency with which
Protective the agency must respond to the report. In
Services addition, CPS educates individuals who report
allegations of child abuse or neglect (frequently
referred to as “reporters”) about State statutes,
agency guidelines, and the roles and
responsibilities of CPS.
The End
Move on to
Chapter 3