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Child Protective Services ( CPS ) is the name of a government agency in many states of the United States responsible for providing child protection, which includes responding to reports of child abuse or neglect. Some states use other names, often attempting to reflect more family-centered (as opposed to child-centered) practices, such as Department of Children & Family Services ( DCFS ). CPS is also known by the name of Department of Social Services ( DSS ) or simply Social Services. List of Other Names and Acronyms for CPS: CPS/DCF is a department under a state's Health and Human Services organization.

Federal edit U.S. federal laws that govern CPS agencies include: Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Multi-Ethnic Placement Act (MEPA) Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, and depending on the circumstances 1985. Social Security Act of 1935

In 1690, in what is now the Americas, there were criminal court cases involving child abuse. In 1692, states and municipalities identified care for abused and neglected children as the responsibility of local government and private institutions. In 1696, The Kingdom of England first used the legal principle of parens patriae, which gave the royal crown care of "charities, infants, idiots, and lunatics returned to the chancery." This principle of parens patriae has been identified as the statutory basis for U.S. governmental intervention in families' child rearing practices. In 1825, states enacted laws giving social-welfare agencies the right to remove neglected children from their parents and from the streets. These children were placed in almshouses, in orphanages and with other families. In 1835, the Humane Society founded the National Federation of Child Rescue agencies to investigate child maltreatment. In the late-19th century, private child protection agencies...

Brazil edit For decades, before 1990, there had been pressure from NGOs and children's organizations for protecting children battered by poverty and hunger and despised by sections of the community in Brazil. After this, became a chapter on the rights of children and adolescents in The Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil. In 1990, an even greater victory, when the Statute of the Child and Adolescent was approved by both houses of the National Congress, legally obligating the Government to protect child rights. This ensured a comprehensive child welfare system in Brazil. To ensure that the Statute's provisions are enforced, Councils for the Rights of the Child and Adolescent were set up at federal, state and local levels. The National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (CONANDA) is Federal Authority. The Councils of Guardianship are the Local Authorities and have duties and responsibilities towards children in their area. All work is based in STATUT...

Children with histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, are at risk of developing psychiatric problems. Such children are at risk of developing a disorganized attachment. Disorganized attachment is associated with a number of developmental problems, including dissociative symptoms, as well as depressive, anxiety, and acting-out symptoms.

Generally speaking, a report must be made when an individual knows or has reasonable cause to believe or suspect that a child has been subjected to abuse or neglect. These standards guide mandatory reporters in deciding whether to make a report to child protective services. However due to the policy of the business to protect the identity of the reporter many reports have been made due to conflict with other parents or hospitals/doctors being sued by parents concerned with the way their child's needs have been addressed Persons responsible for the child edit In addition to defining acts or omissions that constitute child abuse or neglect, several states' statutes provide specific definitions of persons who can get reported to child protective services as perpetrators of abuse or neglect. These are persons who have some relationship or regular responsibility for the child. This generally includes parents, grandparents, guardians, foster parents, relatives, legal guardians or by...

The United States government's Administration for Children and Families reported that in 2004 approximately 3.5 million children were involved in investigations of alleged abuse or neglect in the US, while an estimated 872,000 children were determined to have been abused or neglected, and an estimated 1,490 children died that year because of abuse or neglect. In 2007, 1,760 children died as the result of child abuse and neglect. Child abuse impacts the most vulnerable populations, with children under age five years accounting for 76% of fatalities. In 2008, 8.3 children per 1000 were victims of child abuse and neglect and 10.2 children per 1000 were in out of home placement. On September 30, 2010, there were approximately 400,000 children in foster care in the U.S. of which 36% percent were ages 5 and under. During that same period, almost 120,000 birth to five year-olds entered foster care and a little under 100,000 exited foster care. U.S. Child Protective Services (CPS) receiv...

Brenda Scott, in her 1994 book Out of Control: Who's Watching Our Child Protection Agencies , criticizes CPS, stating, "Child Protective Services is out of control. The system, as it operates today, should be scrapped. If children are to be protected in their homes and in the system, radical new guidelines must be adopted. At the core of the problem is the antifamily mindset of CPS. Removal is the first resort, not the last. With insufficient checks and balances, the system that was designed to protect children has become the greatest perpetrator of harm." Texas edit The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services had itself been an object of reports of unusual numbers of poisonings, death, rapes and pregnancies of children under its care since 2004. The Texas Family and Protective Services Crisis Management Team was created by executive order after the critical report Forgotten Children of 2004. Texas Child Protective Services was hit with a rare if not unpreceden...

In a nationwide study, researchers examined children in 595 families over a period of 9 years. They discovered that in the households where child abuse was substantiated by evidence, risk factors remained unchanged during interviews with the families. The study found that investigated subjects were not perceptibly different from noninvestigated subjects in social support, family functioning, poverty, maternal education, or child behavior problems after adjusting for baseline risk factors and that mothers of investigated subjects had more depressive symptoms than mothers of noninvestigated peers at the child's age of 8 years.

Fong, K. (2020). "Getting Eyes in the Home: Child Protective Services Investigations and State Surveillance of Family Life." American Sociological Review , 85 (4), 610–638.