Familial Policing and Reforming Child Protective Services: Towards an Improved System
INTRODUCTION
Familial regulations have been deeply intertwined with American history and are a subject that has been largely away from the public mainstream light. When criticism emerged, central constitutional issues were exposed as a result--the struggling dynamics of the constitutional right of a parent to retain control over their children and the duty placed upon governments to protect the child from maltreatment and abuse (1). A system that vests power upon a central administration must require another policy or regulation in place to invest checks and balances against that administration. However, such a system fails to exist in the current state of the American familial regulatory system. In recent times, several lawsuits have emerged as a result of malpractice and iniquity by authorities and caseworkers (2), yet there still remain millions of unseen cases that do not progress past a single filed complaint that details the crimes of the Child Protective Services (CPS) (3).
Although the CPS strives to protect youth from abuse, because of excessive power, lack of transparency, and an ill-supported foster care system, the child welfare system ultimately fails its duty of protecting children, preserving families, and relocating youth.
(1) Scott, Brenda (1994) Out of Control: Who's Watching Our Child Protection Agencies?
(2) "Mass. DCF Story," Estey and Bomberger.
(3) "Case Results," Estey and Bomberger.
Brief Historical Context
Originally based on the Kingdom of England’s legal principle of parens patriae (2) the idea of government responsibility to interfere in circumstances of parental abuse has been in American history since the creation of the primitive legal system in the developing colonies (4). Following the establishment of parens patriae in the Kingdom of England, there would be no further development until the early 1800s (5).
In 1825, states vested power in agencies to remove children from the homes of negligent parents and streets. It is here where the first ideas of movement and migration for children also sprouted, with organizations placing children in almshouses, orphanages, or with other families. Just a decade following, various private organizations centered around child protection, such as the Children's Aid Society, were established and modeled after existing animal protection regulations. Their efforts were largely focused on investigating and advocating through presenting legal cases to the courts. These protective efforts were in response to American industrialization and the Gilded Age era, as such a time led to the rise of dangerous child labor. Oftentimes, child laborers experienced extreme physical and emotional abuse from employers (6). Moreover, urbanization from the industrial revolution led to changes in family dynamics, with families moving from rural areas to crowded cities while social support and traditional community networks weakened, making it easier for cases of child neglect to go unnoticed or unreported (7, 8). These factors culminated in child protective efforts and questions in regard to familial regulations, seen in the landmark case of Mary Ellen Wilson (9), the first successful child abuse case, and the creation of local and federal agencies such as the Children’s Bureau to protect children (10).
In the following decades after, the Civil Rights Movement would shift the public viewpoint regarding children. A central point for advocates was to eliminate discriminatory practices or policies against African American children, particularly in the school environment, leading to increased public concern and calls for social reform. Furthermore, developments in radiology and psychology led to the coining of the term “Battered-Child Syndrome,” (11) sparking massive public attention that led to much new legislation being passed (12), such as the creation of child maltreatment reporting systems in 49 states, the establishment of Child Protective Services (CPS), the Indian Child Welfare Act and several smaller acts (13). However, many of these acts ultimately never tackled the issue of underfunding in the child welfare system or the core problems of over-referrals. Rather than limiting the CPS and other such agencies, these acts instead expanded CPS power, overlapping into other systems, such as the legal and medical systems.
(4) Parens Patriae," Legal Information Institute.
(5) Pecora et al. (1992), p. 230-231
(6) Schuman, "History of Child," in Monthly Labor
(7) Sim, "The Impact," 89-91.
(8) "How Did Industrialization," Foundations of Western Culture.
(9) "This Is One of the First."
(10) Tuttle, "Children in the Industrial"
(11) Kemp, "The Battered-Child," 143-154.
(12) Antler, S (1978). "Child Abuse: An emerging social priority". Social Work. 23: 58–61.
(13) Limb, Chance, and Brown, "An empirical," 1279-1289
ISSUES WITH CURRENT CPS PRACTICES
The child welfare system that currently exists in America today is a complex, multifaceted, and interconnected web of different organizations and agencies that work within communities. A few services available that are provided by organizations include drug use therapy, parental skills classes, financial assistance, and residential treatment (14). The CPS and the system that surrounds it are designed to strengthen and preserve families in the interest of the protection of children. All actions taken by the CPS and other such entities are supposedly in accordance with this goal. The CPS’s inability to fulfill its duty, lack of transparency and accountability, excessive power, overzealous removal of children from families, disproportionate impact on impoverished and families of color, and inadequate foster care system demonstrate the need for reform within the child welfare system.
(14) Child Welfare Information Gateway, "How the Child."
Inability to Fulfill its’ Duty
The main issue regarding the CPS is its inability to actually fulfill the duty they were set forth to perform. Yet, critics point to the decreased rates of abuse as proof of the effectiveness of CPS services, without acknowledgment of the decreased nuance these rates demonstrate. However, the rates of referrals in child abuse cases have increased in recent years, yet the substantiation rate, or the rate of the CPS actually taking action, has not, even decreased in 2019, as displayed in Figure 1, providing a summary of four key national rates as reported by the ACF and the procedure of which that guides the CPS.
Figure 1: Referral Rate, Screened-in Referral Rate, Investigation Rate, and Substantiation Rate per 1,000 Children, 2015-2019 (15)
These rates demonstrate that of the millions of reports the CPS and other such administrations received, only a small percentage are followed-up with an investigation, with even less receiving substantiation. Of the 72% of reports to the CPS that were screened out, an estimated 1,299 children died from abuse or neglect with 90% of children being age five or younger and 42% of such reports having previously been reported to the CPS as being threatened. While a small portion of the ineffectiveness of the CPS can be attributed to excessive caseloads, incompetent caseworkers, or lack of funds, these child deaths are the direct result of the emphasis on rehabilitation and family preservation for the offender(s) rather than the affected child from a social service delivery system that frames itself as a protector for children. It is not that there are any external factors influencing abuse to increase; rather, it is the complete lack of investigations conducted by the CPS, despite its apparent goal of ‘protecting children.’
(15) U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children and Families Administration on Children, Youth and Families Children's Bureau, Child Maltreatment 2019, Rep. (). Accessed May 23, 2023.
2. Lack of Transparency and Accountability
The CPS needs to take accountability and demonstrate more transparency for families and the media. When one really takes a closer look at the rates and numbers, it is not the number of victims that is on the decline, rather, it is the number of reports investigated by the CPS that has been truly decreasing (16), despite The Administration on Children and Families (ACF) claiming 2019 as the lowest number of maltreatment in five years. Similar sentiments were repeated by the Child welfare newsletter The Imprint and the Child Welfare League of America followed suit with the Children’s Monitor. However, using deliberate wording and language, these administrations are spewing false facts and lacking real accountability or transparency to excuse their inability to properly prevent child abuse or neglect.
The rate of substantiation does not quantify lowering rates of child abuse, nor does it demonstrate the effectiveness of the CPS. State policies change and vary over time, thus affecting reports made and investigations. States have varied practices, definitions, responses, and levels of evidence required for substantiation which all account for substantiation rates. For example, with fewer screened-in referrals, fewer investigations will occur, and even fewer will be substantiated. As demonstrated in Figure 1, there was a predicted trend for increased rates for all indicators, however, all projected outputs failed, with the only one still rising to be the referral rate, increasing to almost 60 reports per 1,000 children. As such, screened-in reports should also ascend as a result, however, it decreases in comparison, suggesting a less aggressive response to responding to allegations of abuse or neglect. Therefore, the rate of substantiation does not equal decreasing rates of child maltreatment (16).
However, the CPS doesn’t just intentionally manipulate the rates available to the public; the CPS further withholds and hides information from parents fighting for custody of their children from the child welfare system. In California, for example, a diabetic CPS investigator incorrectly assumed that a child’s diabetic conditions would be comparable to their own, forcing the parent to fight for her child in court. However, when checked at a local hospital, the child had been found completely stable and healthy. Yet CPS investigators withheld such information from judges and the family on two separate hearings. It was only after keeping the child for a month, that the report was released to the parents (17).
These deliberate manipulations of wording and withholding of information to families demonstrate the lack of transparency and accountability that the CPS currently holds.
(16) "Declining child," Child Welfare Monitor.
(17) "Problems & Corruption," Parental Rights Foundation.
3. Excessive Power in Legal Procedure
While the law claims to provide rights to children in affected child abuse cases, the system denies children access to equal protection and equality under the law. This implemented system effectively denies children access to real and effective legal sources under the pretense that children cannot speak coherently for themselves, isolating cases of child abuse from all other crimes. Under and only under child maltreatment cases, the legal system allows a social service administration that lacks legal enforcement, training, resources, experience, and priorities to receive reports, investigate the crime and dictate the entirety of the process. Under and only under child abuse cases, the victim is forced to live with their abuser and is effectively denied the right to feel safe in their own home. And when the child victim is forced to live with their abuser, whom they may testify against and send to prison, the child often forgets or withdraws the allegation for a multitude of reasons, such as fear, threatening, or guilt-tripping. In this vein, it is the same as placing a victim of rape or abuse with their rapist or batterer during a criminal investigation, with the only difference being a child who is even more vulnerable and susceptible to the perpetrator (18). The system effectively denies children the ability to feel safe in their own homes, refraining from equality under the law.
On the other hand, in every other criminal case, the standard for police agencies is for a response time of mere minutes during a felony committed by an adult. The standard for the CPS is a response time of days, while if a filed report is life-threatening, the CPS is required to ‘make the crime scene’ in 24 hours, as directed by their own guidelines.
Moreover, the CPS fails to defend the child, rather opting for protecting the abusive family through promoting ideas of rehabilitation and preservation of the family unit at the expense of the child. This general trend in preserving the family unit is further driven by federal funding and legislation, requiring local CPS agencies to display “reasonable efforts” to preserve the family. While the CPS may promote these ideals for the ‘good of the long-term,’ ultimately these rehabilitative efforts have failed currently, and as such, will likely fail to find results in the long term as well.
Currently, reabuse and recidivism rates are extremely high. According to a study done in 2011 (19), of the 2,578 children who remained in their homes after substantiated or non-screened reports, the parents had an overwhelming 60% rate for reabuse. Moreover, the cluster with substantiated reports, a caregiver with parenting class, and with a child younger than 8.5 years reported similar results. This rate demonstrates that even in the name of long-term positive effects, these current changes do not provide any results and occur at the expense of abused children (19).
Nonetheless, it is contradictory to have the same system have the burden of investigating the crime and protecting the child while with the contradictory goal of preserving the family unit. Regardless of the dedication of the child service worker, without a proper system to support victims, a child cannot be protected in an abusive home (18).
(18) Burton, "THE SYSTEM," Justice for Children.
(19) Dakil et al., "Recidivism in the Child,"
4. Overzealous investigations of unsubstantiated reports
Due to the sheer number of referrals, many resources and overzealous investigations of unsubstantiated reports. From Figure 1, the indicator for reports has continued on an upward trend from 2015, while every other step in the procedure has decreased. Every referral means an investigation must be conducted to test the families for maltreatment.
The Weidner family experienced a distressing situation when their five-week-old baby was taken to the emergency room and diagnosed with a skull fracture based on a CT scan. A CPS-contracted pediatrician, who was supposed to provide medical records for the investigation, interviewed the Weidners without informing them of the real meaning behind their investigation, wrongly claiming that the child's singular incident of a fracture was indicative of abuse. CPS workers then gave the Weidner family the option of constant supervision or having their children removed from their care. In response, the Weidners sought second opinions from a neuroradiologist and another children's hospital, both of whom confirmed the absence of a skull fracture, leading to the closure of police investigations and the lifting of the safety plan. However, despite the lack of evidence, the CPS investigation remained open, ultimately concluding with baseless allegations.
In 2019, the CPS investigated 3.5 million children, while ultimately only finding child maltreatment in only one-fifth of cases (20). While investigations could’ve ended in real abuse and battery discovered, for more than half of the families, their investigations only scared, stressed, and harmed them in the name of fruitless referrals. Even worse, according to a journal published in 2022, an estimated 3.2% of U.S. children have investigations done by CPS, with 27% to 37% being subject to CPS investigations by age 18 (21). For further evidence, see Figure 2. As demonstrated by Figure 2, the ratio of unfounded cases compared to indicated cases is drastic.
(20) Roberts, "I Have," Mother Jones.
(21) Palmer et al., "What Does,"
Figure 2: Reports of Abuse or Neglect by NYC School Staff, Aug. 2019 to Jan. 2022, public records request to the New York Office of Children and Family Services
The issue of this system ultimately comes down to the referral policy working in conjunction with the medical system. Since 1974, medical professionals are obligated to report reasonably suspected child abuse to the authorities. However, “reasonably suspected child abuse” varies between states, as different policies require various levels of evidence to be presented. The issue of “when in doubt, call the hotline” leads to the unnecessary use of resources by both families and the CPS to conduct an ultimately fruitless investigation. Unless there is a clear and present danger that is imminent for the child, reasonable suspicion should be observed further by the hospital and precede, rather than follow a decision to call CPS.
Another issue is presented through this story as well--safety plans. The CPS often uses threats of child removal to coerce parents into abiding by safety plans that monitor and supervise the families excessively (22). In other cases, caseworkers have forced parents to sign their children away into foster care through scare tactics, fear-mongering, and threats. The issue with caseworkers who are backed by the CPS and other such organizations is that they are the ones in charge of making serious decisions that impact families. Without years of experience and training that a judge has to make unbiased decisions, a caseworker is seriously unqualified to terminate parental rights without supervision and review, particularly when carrying out one of the most damaging and serious civil rulings.
Issues of prolonged and delayed investigations are another large part of the CPS system. In another story, the Sol family had their parental rights signed away through scary tactics by lawyers and caseworkers. Their children were placed in foster care while the Sol family was offered the opportunity for “service plans,” similar to safety plans. However, the parent had completed many service plans, without ever gaining her children back. Each time, according to the family, the DCF claimed different reasons and other excuses to restrict her time with her children, who had been being abused in their foster home. Even her own lawyers refrained from fighting for her children, rather informing the parent that it would be fruitless to fight against the DCF (23). These issues of delayed reunification demonstrate the intentional miscommunication of the CPS and other such services during investigations.
These issues are particularly emphasized when the child welfare system becomes interconnected with the medical system. Oftentimes, doctors will work with CPS caseworkers to decide the merits of referrals, leading to the issue of confirmation bias. Rather than forensic specialists unrelated to the CPS, a select group of child-abuse pediatricians is used to communicate with the family and the administration, with later prosecutors relying on the same pediatricians for evidence. However, these workers do not inform the families of their relationship with CPS, instead, allowing the families to falsely believe their shared personal stories will not be used against them later through courts or investigation notes. Yet doctors are obligated to disclose third-party contracts and obtain consent from families in order to access familial records or send them to state officials. Doctors are expected to work with specialists to ensure fairness in deciding the merits of child abuse reports, yet pediatricians associated with the CPS are not obligated to follow the same standards.
Even with good intentions, a system that encourages the reporting of unlikely abuse clouds and hides the referrals of actual abuse, leaving very little resources and time for real victims of maltreatment.
(22) Redleaf, "After the Hotline," The Atlantic.
(23) "American Horror," PJ Media.
5. Disproportionate impact on low-income communities
Another critical issue with the system of child welfare is the disproportionate impact and investigation on low-income communities. Scrutiny by the CPS is hardly equally distributed.
53% of black children in America will experience a CPS investigation compared to less than one-third of white children. By age 18, one in five black children will have a state-confirmed report of child maltreatment, the highest for any racial group, particularly compared to one in nine white children. Many disenfranchised communities and families are unable to afford lawyers. Black and indigenous families have been investigated at the highest rates.
However, these stats implicate a larger effect--the relationship and dynamic between investigations and poverty. It becomes even more apparent with state and federal budget cuts. For example, since 2011, Kansas’ monetary assistance cuts aligned with increasing foster care rates of children. Specifically, foster care rates increasing coincided with services by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families decreasing. According to an analysis of the Human Rights Watch of various public data released from the federal government, U.S. counties with higher rates of poverty align with rates of higher CPS investigations, see Figure 3 (24).
(24) "US: Child," Human Rights Watch.
(25) National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) Child File, FFY 2019, Rep. (). Accessed May 23, 2023. https://www.ndacan.acf.hhs.gov/datasets/datasets-list-ncands-child-file.cfm.
(26) "American Community," United States Census Bureau.
Figure 3: US Counties with Higher Rates of Poverty have Higher Rates of Child Welfare Investigation, Human Rights Watch analysis of National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) Child File (25), FY 2019, and US Census Bureau Data (26).
Figure 3 demonstrates the general trend between poverty rates and investigations per 1,000 children.
The relationship between poverty and neglect is even directly inscribed into state statutes and definitions of maltreatment. Many states define child neglect as “the failure or omission to provide…adequate nurturance and affection, food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, hygiene, or appropriate education,” or they list other similar necessities. Neglect, under these definitions, can mean something as small as missing school, being left home without an adult, going hungry, or wearing dirty clothes. However, other states provide extremely broad definitions of “the proper or necessary support…for a child’s well-being.” Yet due to the open-ended nature of such broad definitions, it is then left up to the caseworkers to decide their own definitions of neglect based on their own unqualified and unsubstantiated opinions (27).
Closely tied to poverty is the income inequality that leaves many in segregated residential neighborhoods, under the influence of predatory banking or mortgage practices, and difficulty finding affordable housing. CPS workers identify these families, living in overcrowded and impoverished areas or neighborhoods, as ‘unfit parents,’ when the core issue is the income inequality and lack of monetary assistance that deem them ‘neglectful.’ Once the CPS identifies a ‘neglectful family,’ the first step they take is to remove the child from the home. Without the authority of providing better housing, contacting the landlord, or directing the city to improve the slums, the CPS workers cannot solve the real problems and issues at hand. Neither do judges that work in the family court. With no real authority to direct the landlord to improve housing, only the housing court would have jurisdiction. The only option left for the caseworkers and judges is to remove the children from unsanitary homes while causing further stress and trauma for families that already deal with the burdens of poverty (27).
The unjust removal of children from families is further supported by studies that found that 30% of children in foster care could have remained safely with their families if they had adequate housing (24) Family court judges say that at least 30% of the cases they hear are due to inadequate housing (28). This issue is further emphasized by the statistics surrounding the specific cases the CPS and other agencies handle. See Figure 4.
(27) "'If I Wasn't," Human Rights Watch.
(28) “Housing: A solid," The Seattle Times.
(29) "Number of cases," Statistia.
Figure 4: Number of cases of child abuse in the United States in 2021, by type of maltreatment, Statista Research Department (29)
When the standards of child neglect are so broad, coupled with factors of economic inequality, it is no wonder that the rate of cases of child neglect is astronomically higher than all other types of maltreatment. Figure 4 emphasizes the importance of improving the system around investigating child neglect cases, as these CPS investigations affect impoverished families the most.
Moreover, by targeting these families without real assistance, it contributes to the income disparity. With the safety and service plans the CPS coerces onto families, these plans require guardians and parents to attend classes, therapy, or supervised drug tests and medical visits. As a result, parents have an even harder time holding a steady job, leaving families separated for even longer due to housing and financial issues. Even after a case is closed, the record of child abuse and arrest still remains on the records of parents, making it increasingly difficult for families to find healthy jobs to provide adequate necessities for their children, which may cause CPS to investigate these families again (28). Without enough finances, families will depend heavily on social services, public hospitals, public housing, and welfare benefits, places of contact where government workers are mandated to report suspected child ‘neglect,’ deterring families from receiving help from the service providers (28).
The way in which the CPS and other such child welfare services protect white families while disproportionately targeting low income families under the premise of ‘child neglect’ demonstrate the fundamental flaws of the state to identify child neglect as poverty (29).
6. Inadequate foster care conditions
The issues with the CPS do not stop at investigation procedures, however. Problems continue to fester into the foster care conditions that follow the children after removal from the home and family. With the current crisis of the shortage of foster parents, the issue of children’s placement becomes even more prevalent all throughout the child welfare system. Furthermore, without the necessary training and a system that lacks the support needed, approximately half of the foster parents resign from fostering children after their first year.
Without a home, the Child Welfare system sends thousands of children into juvenile detention centers, shelters, and group homes, which do not provide the adequate growing environment necessary for children to develop. Oftentimes, these children are exposed to conditions worse than the ones they were removed from, as they are isolated from the rest of the world in harsh facilities that allow for very little socialization and development. Without the necessary support for each care center, those in the foster care system often have to migrate from shelter to shelter, without the ability to find a permanent and safe home.
In Washington alone, more than 2,000 foster children were forced to stay at hotels overnight as a result of housing, with many sleeping in the offices of social workers in 2019. These conditions further develop an environment that creates feelings of guilt and anxiety surrounding abandonment that resulted in over 4,500 foster youth fleeing from temporary shelters and group homing in 2019.
Without the support necessary for the development of children, foster youth are subject to lasting effects that continue to affect their well-being long after escaping the foster care system. For example, approximately half of foster youth do not graduate high school, with less than half able to attain money from employment at any given time. Furthermore, one in five children from the foster care system become homeless, while one in four foster youth will become intermingled with the justice and criminal system after a measly two years following their release from foster care. With the instability of placement coupled with the previous abuse they may have suffered, it is very common for post-foster care youth to develop trauma and mental health issues, with 21% developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder compared to the 4% in the general population. Mitigating factors are internal to the foster care system, with no reliable system of support from a permanent and stable family (30).
Furthermore, when children are placed with foster parents, oftentimes, without the proper procedures to check for the behavior and record of the foster parents, children often experience even more abuse. In John Doe v. Family Foster Agency,4 for example, Kenneth Edwards was sentenced to 10 years of prison after being found guilty for sexually abusing children within his care. Edwards had been hired by Pyramid Builders, a non-profit organization to whom the Massachusetts Department of Children and Family (DCF) was funding despite being an unlicensed therapist, social worker, and psychologist and having a criminal past of domestic abuse and ill-use of firearms. Regardless, the DCF allowed Edwards to operate under a company license. Following the assignment of the defendant in John Doe v. Family Foster Agency to Edwards, a long series of sexual abuse began occurring, with the DCF ignoring claims against him. Similarly, in John Doe (Minor) v. Giarretto Institute (4), due to the negligence of a private foster care agency that orchestrated the defendant’s foster care situation, 4 years of physical and sexual abuse from foster parents occurred toward the victim (4).
These cases highlight larger issues with the foster care system. Firstly, the lack of background checks will likely further perpetuate physical and sexual abuse in foster care homes. While the lack of background checks may be attributed to the national crisis of foster families, if the goal of the foster care and child welfare system is to protect the children, then background checks are absolutely necessary. Furthermore, resources, training, and proper investigations should be conducted for employees. As a result of the John Doe (Minor) v. Giarretto Institute, Santa Clara County made the move to cease outsourcing foster care, which can also be a possible solution to the malpractice of extended agencies (4).
These cases and statistics demonstrate the issues with the malpractice and poor conditions of the foster care system, affecting children in the long-term by a system that claims to protect and relocate foster youth into healthy homes. Instead, the system perpetuates the abuse and trauma caused originally by biological parents in some cases. The foster care system presents many issues for youths, even after release.
(30) "No Place," The Northwood Howler.
III. CONCLUSION: TOWARDS AN IMPROVED CPS SYSTEM
This brutal regime of unnecessary trauma caused families and children over and over again every year to be awarded benevolent titles by us--the child welfare system, foster care, and child protective services. States brand themselves and weaponize children to police families in the name of saving children from child maltreatment. But the reality becomes that, while some cases genuinely deal with child abuse or neglect, in the millions of other cases investigated, families are policed in a system of surveillance, intentional coercion, manipulation, and punishment. This system is even further perpetuated by working in conjunction with other flawed legal, medical, and monetary assistance systems that allow the CPS to circumvent required practices and policies for other professionals. Caseworkers and the CPS are given unnecessary power by the legal system, medical system, and society for ‘protecting children.’ Yet, in the end, more children end up with trauma and abuse than they were before the CPS. The CPS needs to address their issues with fulfilling its intended purpose, lack of transparency, excessive power, overzealous investigations, disproportionate impact, and inadequate foster care conditions.
The child welfare and foster care system are deeply in need of reformation and improvements, for the betterment of children across the nation. While spreading awareness of the issue is important, the real power is placed upon legislators and policymakers that may pass acts and statutes to allow the children and parents of the CPS system to receive the support and resources necessary for development and growth. At the same time, however, there must be a consideration of the delicate balance of respecting parental rights and protecting children.
Policymakers and legislators must work collaboratively to review and revise past and future policies of the CPS and other such agencies to ensure transparency, clarity, and fairness. This is the first step, as many policies of the CPS are certainly a violation of basic guidelines for investigations and background checks for employees and foster families. The next step that shall be taken is the focus on separating real, legitimate cases of neglect or abuse from cases that have genuinely loving parents and families. This would include incentivizing children by removing government bonuses and awards to states that place more children into the foster care system. For cases of illegitimate maltreatment, greater emphasis should be placed on family preservation and preventing overzealous removal practices. Alternatives should be provided to parents being investigated and the completion of parental classes should guarantee the return of children. For cases of legitimate abuse, fewer family preservation practices should be enacted for the protection and safety of the victims, particularly during ensuing court cases.
Transparency and accountability should be another step taken by officials in order to reform the CPS system. Establishing checks, balances, and punishments for CPS operations would limit and establish the parameters of the child welfare agencies, addressing misconduct or systemic issues and promoting adherence to guidelines. The CPS should also be required to provide clear information on the investigation process, their rights, and the reasons behind agency decisions. Funds should further be allocated to expand and improve support services for both investigated families and foster households, including access to mental health resources, parental education, substance abuse treatment, and other community-based programs. Underlying issues of child maltreatment should also be addressed, particularly by funding impoverished areas by working in conjunction with city and community officials that prevent cases of child neglect. Further training and education should also be provided to employees and social workers on the importance of equality while also implementing policies and procedures that actively address and rectify the disproportionate impact of CPS interventions on marginalized communities for equality and fairness. Finally, in conjunction with the CPS system, the foster care system shall also be addressed, with background checks and investigations of foster parents. Funding should also be allocated to support shelters and programs to alleviate the burden and trauma of the foster youth. Following their release, further scholarships or programs to fund and support their lives following is also extremely important.
By taking these steps, a transformed CPS system that effectively protects children from abuse and neglect while preserving the integrity and well-being of families can begin to be implemented. It is the responsibility of lawmakers, community leaders, advocates, and society as a whole to champion these reforms and hold our child welfare systems accountable for malpractice and misconduct in the child welfare system for the safety of children across the nation and the world.