Child Protective Services: A Case Study

Although child abuse has had a long-standing presence throughout United States history, laws to protect children only began in the early 20th century. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), approximately 3.4 million cases of child maltreatment was reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) in 2011 involving about 6.2 million children. Of those, approximately 681,000 children, were determined to be victims. Child maltreatment has become a widespread public health issue that requires careful attention from professionals and lawmakers in order to protect the safety and health of children across the country.

Each day, the safety and well-being of children across the Nation are threatened by child abuse and neglect. Intervening effectively in the lives of these children and their families are not the sole responsibility of any agency, but rather the safety and the care of the children in need. Child Protective Services (CPS) was created by law to make sure children are safe and to help families create a safe environment for their children. When investigating a report of abuse or neglect, CPS seeks active involvement from the children’s parents and other family members to help solve issues that lead to abuse or neglect. The objective of CPS is to reunify parents and children whenever possible, and if reunification is not possible, CPS will seek to

Within this article, there are guidelines for caseworkers that work with child protective services (CPS). There are seven stages in the CPS process. The stages consist of intake, initial assessment or investigation, comprehensive family assessment, planning, service provision, evaluation of family progress, and case closure. There are several core values that CPS workers follow. One of the stages that I focused on while reading is that CPS workers work hard to guarantee the safety of children within their family and home. CPS workers have responsibilities while serving children and families. They are responsible for receiving and assessing reports of suspect child abuse and neglect. They go through a process to determine whether or not child

Human Service Role Human services professionals play a major part in helping from every angle of child abuse. Everyone from the victim, to the perpetrator, and other members of the family need help. There are many local agencies that is in place to help the struggles of child abuse. “The wide range of activities in which a human service professional might engage within a child and family services agency, there is also a wide range of practice settings where the human service professional might work, the largest being a state’s child protective services (CPS) agency” (Martin, 2014, p.82).

Tragedy in Child Protection There are many flaws throughout the child welfare system that can hinder its overall goal of protecting children. There have been several cases in child protection that have resulted in tragedy, either within the foster care system itself, or in the child’s biological home. Child Protective Services (CPS) is a government agency that exists to protect children from neglect and/or maltreatment. The purpose of CPS is to ensure that the child is in a safe environment. There are a considerable amount of cases where CPS workers did not protect the children by not placing them in adequate environments.

When working with children and young people, it is important that their safety and well-being is paramount. There are a number of guidelines, policies and procedures which cover the safeguarding of pupils, including;

The goal of the Child Abuse and Prevention Treatment Act (CAPTA) was to improve safety, permanency, and well being of children. The drive of the act is to provide funding for prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect. This act allows the government to research possible strategies to reduce child abuse and neglect and improve treatments for the victims (nlihc,

Policies are put in place for people to follow not only in the government setting but also in much smaller settings. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016) defines policy as a clearly stated or implicit procedure, plan, rule, or stance concerning some issue that serves to guide decision making and behavior (p. 87). In the social work field policies are put into place so that there is guarantee that all clients are treated with the same respect and are offered the resources that are available to them in their community. In this paper I will discuss policies that are in place for children that are being abused and what is in place to help them. Not only are we concerned with if these policies are working but also how are they being paid

A significant amount of children in today’s society belonging to the foster care system will never gain the knowledge of their full potential. This system can provide a better life for some children or be abusive and dangerous for others. Ashley Rhodes grew up in a child care system where she acquired a difficult childhood and a failing mother, however, she gained her success today while in the system.

It is the on-going social worker’s responsibility to provide professional child welfare social work services, through home visits, to the family. This is done by assessing the family’s strengths and needs, developing

According to a Child Protective Investigation, there are approximately half a million children in the U.S. foster care system, otherwise known as congregate care (group homes and institutions). Children are placed in congregate care when they are found to be in an unsafe environment. Usually children of abuse or maltreatment are placed first (Font, 2015). Out-of-home-care causes increased problems of attachment, behavioral, and psychological disorders in the developing child. Child safety is the primary goal of out-of-home-care; however, maltreatment investigations are still reported in those institutions.

Introduction: Preservation of Family In South Carolina, Family Preservation is of the highest importance when dealing with cases involving children. Title 63 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina is the South Carolina Children’s Code dedicated to the protection and advocacy of children. S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-10 (1976) states that “Any intervention by the State into family life on behalf of children must be guided by law, by strong philosophical underpinnings, and by sound professional standards for practice.” (S.C. Code Ann.

Joseph A. Doyle Jr. (2007) discusses, “Children investigated for abuse or neglect are not tracked over time in a systematic way.” (p.1584). If the foster system does not efficiently track the wellbeing of these children, it makes it difficult to provide all the necessary support for them. Providing a program that will help track, transition, and counsel these children will greatly impact the overall improvement of the foster system. Foster care was not meant to be a permanent solution for these children.

1. Context an Importance of the Social Problem that Underlies the Policy: A) Every year millions of children suffer from child abuse and maltreatment. Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Child Maltreatment 2013 (2015) report shows that in 2013, there were approximately 3.9 million reports of child abuse made in the United States. Of those reported, 678,932 were deemed victims of child abuse and neglect (child maltreatment 2015). Of the four common types of abuse, i.e., physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect, “the greatest percentages of children suffered from neglect (79.5%) and physical abuse (18.0%).”

At Adult Protective Services majority of our work involves investigation of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. At Adult Protective Services our job is to protect the vulnerable elderly population, as well as the population that have disabilities. “Only APS is statutorily authorized and responsible for investigating elder and vulnerable adult abuse and taking steps to protect the victims, and it is generally only APS that helps the most frail and incapacitated older persons”(Quin, 2012, p.68). When abuse is suspected, a case worker will reach out to all parties involved, such as the alleged victim, alleged perpetrator, and all collaterals. Unlike many other professions, case worker are not required to have any written consent to speak with