Criticism

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."

Texasedit

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 unprecedented legal sanction for a "groundless cause of action" and ordered to pay $32,000 of the Spring family's attorney fees. Judge Schneider wrote in a 13-page order, "The offensive conduct by (CPS) has significantly interfered with the legitimate exercise of the traditional core functions of this court."

2008 Raid of YFZ Ranchedit

In April 2008, the largest child protection action in American history raised questions as the CPS in Texas removed hundreds of minor children, infants, and women incorrectly believed to be children from the YFZ Ranch polygamist community, with the assistance of heavily armed police with an armored personnel carrier. Investigators, including supervisor Angie Voss convinced a judge that all of the children were at risk of child abuse because they were all being groomed for under-age marriage. The state supreme court disagreed, releasing most children back to their families. Investigations would result in criminal charges against some men in the community.

Gene Grounds of Victim Relief Ministries commended CPS workers in the Texas operation as exhibiting compassion, professionalism and caring concern. However, CPS performance was questioned by workers from the Hill Country Community Mental Health-Mental Retardation Center. One wrote "I have never seen women and children treated this poorly, not to mention their civil rights being disregarded in this manner" after assisting at the emergency shelter. Others who were previously forbidden to discuss conditions working with CPS later produced unsigned written reports expressed anger at the CPS traumatizing the children, and disregarding rights of mothers who appeared to be good parents of healthy, well-behaved children. CPS threatened some MHMR workers with arrest, and the entire mental health support was dismissed the second week due to being "too compassionate." Workers believed poor sanitary conditions at the shelter allowed respiratory infections and chicken pox to spread.

CPS problem reportsedit

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, as with other states, 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 Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn made a statement in 2006 about the Texas foster care system. In Fiscal 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively 30, 38 and 48 foster children died in the state's care. The number of foster children in the state's care increased 24 percent to 32,474 in Fiscal 2005, while the number of deaths increased 60 percent. Compared to the general population, a child is four times more likely to die in the Texas foster care system. In 2004, about 100 children were treated for poisoning from medications; 63 were treated for rape that occurred while under state care including four-year old twin boys, and 142 children gave birth, though others believe Ms. Strayhorn's report was not scientifically researched, and that major reforms need to be put in place to assure that children in the conservatorship of the state get as much attention as those at risk in their homes.

Disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare systemedit

In the United States, data suggests that a disproportionate number of minority children, particularly African American and Native American children, enter the foster care system. National data in the United States provides evidence that disproportionality may vary throughout the course of a child's involvement with the child welfare system. Differing rates of disproportionality are seen at key decision points including the reporting of abuse, substantiation of abuse, and placement into foster care. Additionally, once they enter foster care, research suggests that they are likely to remain in care longer. Research has shown that there is no difference in the rate of abuse and neglect among minority populations when compared to Caucasian children that would account for the disparity. The Juvenile Justice system has also been challenged by disproportionate negative contact of minority children. Because of the overlap in these systems, it is likely that this phenomenon within multiple systems may be related.

The American Journal of Public Health estimate that 37.4% of all children experience a child protective services investigation by age 18 years. Consistent with previous literature, we found a higher rate for African American children (53.0%) and the lowest rate for Asians/Pacific Islanders (10.2%). They conclude child maltreatment investigations are more common than is generally recognized when viewed across the lifespan. Building on other recent work, our data suggest a critical need for increased preventative and treatment resources in the area of child maltreatment.

Constitutional issuesedit

In May 2007, the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found in Rogers v. County of San Joaquin, No. 05-16071 that a CPS social worker who removed children from their natural parents into foster care without obtaining judicial authorization was acting without due process and without exigency (emergency conditions) violated the 14th Amendment and Title 42 United States Code Section 1983. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution says that a state may not make a law that abridges "... the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States" and no state may "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Title 42 United States Code Section 1983 states that citizens can sue in federal courts any person who acting under a color of law to deprive the citizens of their civil rights under the pretext of a regulation of a state, See.

In a case of Santosky v. Kramer, 455 US 745 (1982), the Supreme Court reviewed a case when Department of Social Services removed two younger children from their natural parents only because the parents had been previously found negligent toward their oldest daughter. When the third child was only three days old, DSS transferred him to a foster home on the ground that immediate removal was necessary to avoid imminent danger to his life or health. The Supreme Court vacated previous judgment and stated: "Before a State may sever completely and irrevocably the rights of parents in their natural child, due process requires that the State support its allegations by at least clear and convincing evidence. But until the State proves parental unfitness, the child and their parents share a vital interest in preventing erroneous termination of their natural relationship".

A District of Columbia Court of Appeals concluded that the lower trial court erred in rejecting the relative custodial arrangement selected by the natural mother who tried to preserve her relationship with the child. The previous judgment granting the foster mother's adoption petition was reversed, the case remanded to the trial court to vacate the orders granting adoption and denying custody, and to enter an order granting custody to the child's relative.

Notable lawsuitsedit

In 2010 an ex-foster child was awarded $30 million by jury trial in California (Santa Clara County) for sexual abuse damages that happened to him in foster home from 1995 to 1999; he was represented by attorney Stephen John Estey. The foster parent, John Jackson, was licensed by state despite the fact that he abused his own wife and son, overdosed on drugs and was arrested for drunken driving. In 2006, Jackson was convicted in Santa Clara County of nine counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child by force, violence, duress, menace and fear and seven counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child under 14, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. The sex acts he forced the children in his foster care to perform sent him to prison for 220 years. Later in 2010, Giarretto Institute, the private foster family agency responsible for licensing and monitoring Jackson's foster home and others, also was found to be negligent and liable for 75 percent of the abuse that was inflicted on the victim, and Jackson was liable for the rest. This was a landmark case that has since set a precedent in future proceedings against the Department of Children and Families.

In 2009 Oregon Department of Human Services has agreed to pay $2 million into a fund for the future care of twins who were allegedly abused by their foster parents; it was the largest such settlement in the agency's history. According to the civil rights suit filed on request of twins' adoptive mother in December 2007 in U.S. Federal Court, kids were kept in makeshift cages—cribs covered with chicken wire secured by duct tape—in a darkened bedroom known as "the dungeon." The brother and sister often went without food, water or human touch. The boy, who had a shunt put into his head at birth to drain fluid, didn't receive medical attention, so when police rescued the twins he was nearly comatose. The same foster family previously took in their care hundreds of other children over nearly four decades. DHS said the foster parents deceived child welfare workers during the checkup visits.

Several lawsuits were brought in 2008 against the Florida Department of Children & Families (DCF), accusing it of mishandling reports that Thomas Ferrara, 79, a foster parent, was molesting girls. The suits claimed that though there were records of sexual misconduct allegations against Ferrara in 1992, 1996, and 1999, the DCF continued to place foster children with Ferrara and his then-wife until 2000. Ferrara was arrested in 2001 after a 9-year-old girl told detectives he regularly molested her over two years and threatened to hurt her mother if she told anyone. Records show that Ferrara had as many as 400 children go through his home during his 16 years as a licensed foster parent from 1984 to 2000. Officials stated that the lawsuits over Ferrara end up costing the DCF almost $2.26 million. Similarly, in 2007 Florida's DCF paid $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged DCF ignored complaints that another mentally challenged Immokalee girl was being raped by her foster father, Bonifacio Velazquez, until the 15-year-old gave birth to a child.

In a class action lawsuit Charlie and Nadine H. v. McGreevey was filed in federal court by "Children’s Rights" New York organization on behalf of children in the custody of the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS). The complaint alleged violations of the children's constitutional rights and their rights under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment, 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA). In July 2002, the federal court granted plaintiffs’ experts access to 500 children's case files, allowing plaintiffs to collect information concerning harm to children in foster care through a case record review. These files revealed numerous cases in which foster children were abused, and DYFS failed to take proper action. On June 9, 2004, the child welfare panel appointed by the parties approved the NJ State's Reform Plan. The court accepted the plan on June 17, 2004. The same organization filed similar lawsuits against other states in recent years that caused some of the states to start child welfare reforms.

In 2007 Deanna Fogarty-Hardwick obtained a jury verdict against Orange County (California) and two of its social workers for violating her Fourteenth Amendment rights to familial association. The $4.9 million verdict grew to a $9.5 million judgment as the County lost each of its successive appeals. The case finally ended in 2011 when the United States Supreme Court denied Orange County's request to overturn the verdict. During the appeals process it was argued by the defense attorneys that the caseworkers had a right to fabricate evidence and lie to the court in order to facilitate the continued removal of the child from her family. This case, which has come to be called the "right to lie" case set a precedent of how caseworkers can handle cases to which they are assigned. It was adamantly argued, by the defense, that caseworkers should be allowed to make up things in order to sway the judges decision to remove a child from his/her fit parent(s). The defense attorney even tried to justify the right of the caseworkers to lie saying that the statutes which cover perjury are "state statutes".

In 2018 Rafaelina Duval obtained a jury verdict against Los Angeles County (California) and two of its social workers for an unwarranted seizure of her child. The Board of Supervisors approved a $6 million payout for Ms. Duval who said her 15-month-old baby was seized by county social workers against her rights. Her son, Ryan, was taken on Nov. 3, 2009, after social workers Kimberly Rogers and Susan Pender accused Duval of general neglect and intentionally starving the boy, according to a statement issued by Duval’s attorney, Shawn McMillan, following the jury verdict. “The law is very clear and the social workers get training on this, you cannot seize a child from its parents unless there’s an emergency,” McMillan said.

In 2019 Rachel Bruno obtained an award against social services and Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) after they took her 20-month-old son and ran unauthorized medical tests on him and injected him with a dozen vaccinations at the same time. The 1.49 million dollar award was given for the damage social workers and hospital staff did to the Brunos’ civil rights by ordering tests on David without valid warrants or parental consent. The medical tests were to determine if he was sexually abused, even though there were no allegations that abuse occurred. An invasive test was performed on him at CHOC, along with a full skeletal x-ray for which he had to be forcibly held down. David was seized without a warrant from his parents while his newborn brother Lucas was in the hospital for a head injury that was under investigation by the county. Child services suspected that Lucas’s injury was from abuse, and although the mother and nanny were the only two in the home when the injury occurred, child services blamed Bruno and only questioned the nanny once before letting her go. No evidence was ever found that anyone had harmed the newborn intentionally and the state’s attorney declined to prosecute.

Californiaedit

In April 2013, Child Protective Services in Sacramento sent in police to forcibly remove a 5-month-old baby from the care of parents.

Alex and Anna Nikolayev took their baby Sammy out of Sutter Memorial Hospital and sought a second opinion at Kaiser Permanente, a competing hospital, for Sammy's flu-like symptoms. Police arrived at Kaiser and questioned the couple and doctors. Once Sammy had been fully cleared to leave the hospital, the couple went home, but the following day police arrived and took Sammy. On June 25, 2013 the case against the family was dismissed and the family filed a lawsuit against CPS and the Sacramento Police Department.

In Stockton, California, two children were taken away from Vuk and Verica Nastić in June 2010 after the children's naked photos were found on the father's computer. Such photos are common in Serbian culture. Furthermore, parents claim that their ethnic and religious rights have been violated – children are not permitted to speak Serbian, nor to meet with their parents for orthodox Christmas. They could only meet their mother once a week. Children have suffered psychological trauma due to their separation from parents. A polygraph test showed that the father did not abuse the children. The trial was set for January 26. Psychologists from Serbia stated that a few hours of conversation with children are enough to see whether they have been abused. The children were taken from their family 7 months ago. The FBI started an investigation against the CPS. The children were reunited with their parents in February 2011.

Illinoisedit

Children and Family Services plays an important part in investigating and restoring children and families in order to better a society.  As the Children Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act of Illinois states, that upon receiving a report it is the responsibility of Department of Children and Families Services to conserve the health and safety of the child in any circumstances where the children experience abuse and neglect. Protective assistance to the child should be provided in order to maintain a proper mental health and psychological state for the child; which includes preserving family life whenever possible.  Sadly, in the most extreme cases, child abuse results in the death of a child.  In 2016, there were 64 child maltreatment deaths reported in Illinois—a rate of 2.19 per 100,000 children (U.S. DHHS, 2018). From 2012 to 2016, Illinois’ reported annual maltreatment-related deaths have been as high as 105 and as low as 64, with a decrease every year since 2014.

Family Social Workeredit

Once a teacher, counselor, neighbor or any bystander calls child protective services. social workers start the investigation. Social workers have the obligation to visit clients into their homes in order to prove that the children and families are in good standings. Social workers are in charge to evaluate and verify that there is no academic, behavioral nor social problems that could affect the development of the children. The social worker will continue doing visitation until children and the family is stable and there is not more signs of abuse or neglect. If in the case that the situation it seems to not improve, the social worker can intervene and take the child away from family and be place in the foster system until parents or guardians pass test in order to have possibility to have the child back.

Perpetratorsedit

The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) gathers and analyzes all screened-in referrals from the child protective services from all 50 states.  It defines a perpetrator as someone who has caused or permitted the abuse and neglect of a child to had happened. As NCANDS data on 2018 shows, in Illinois, 17,431 out of 18,958 perpetrators, or 77%, are parents of their victims, 6.4 percent are relatives and 4.6 percent had a different relationship to the child3. Within those numbers, 40 percent of the victims were abused and neglected by a mother acting alone and 21.5 percent by father acting alone3. Compared to Wisconsin where 2,502 out of 2,753 perpetrators are parents of the victims. Alcohol abuse and drug abuse have been identified as major risk factors which will increase child maltreatment.3  Evidence shows that there is an increase of victims if parents consume drugs or alcohol.

Child Protective Services Responsibilities and Case Loadedit

Child Protective Services is composed of social workers, a position which does not require a degree in social work and in many cases any degree beyond a high school diploma, who assist families and children in complicated situations where abuse and neglect are alleged. National Association of Social Workers sets professional standards for social workers in family support programs, parenting programs and family-based services. According to these standards, social workers must act ethically, in accord with service, social justice, integrity and respect toward the person. Furthermore, the standards emphasize the importance that a social worker should have on serving as an advocate for the physical health and mental health of the children, youth and their families. Moreover, social workers should be able to perform ongoing assessments in order to gather important information and intervene with adequate evidence in order to ensure safety of the child.

However, throughout the years, social workers have struggled with a lack of resources, large caseloads and poor education. Social workers have to perform screening, investigations and identify alternative responses. Some social workers might need to provide additional services depending on the number of coworkers in their agencies and resources. In 2018, NCANDS reported that Illinois has only 150 workers who perform intake and screening for child abuse and neglect, and only 953 workers that follow up on reports. This provides evidence that child welfare social workers may find their daily responsibilities to be challenging. Compared with Michigan that has 177 workers who perform intake and screening for child abuse and neglect, and 1,549 workers that follow up on reports.

In addition to the challenges of a lack of resources and large caseloads, the Office of Inspector General identified issues that hinder effective service delivery.  Among individual professional social workers, cognitive fixation, knowledge deficit, and documentation burdens are problems. Among social worker teams, coordination and supervisory support are problems.  And environmental conditions, such as policies, training, and service array can also be inadequate. Based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics individual and family services social workers on 2018, had an annual mean wage of $42,972 which might be taken as trivial amount compared to the amount of work that needed from social workers. An example of fixable efforts is Annie E. Casey Foundation Human Services Workforce Initiative (AECF). The initiative focuses on recruiting and retaining social workers with training and support in order to provide an effective resource for children and their family. States are doing different partnerships with colleges and universities to provide recruitment strategies that could attract students to find interest in the career of social work.

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Legislative Information System, Illinois General Assembly, Children Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act Source: P.A. 79-65 http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1460&ChapterID=32

Weiner, D., & Cull, M. (2019). Systemic review of critical incidents in intact family services. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. https://www.chapinhall.org/wp-content/uploads/Systemic-Review-Critical-Incidents.pdf

Social Work, Child and Family Social Workers https://www.socialwork.org/careers/child-and-family-social-worker/

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. (2020). Child Maltreatment 2018. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/cm2018.pdf#page=21

National Assosiation of Social Workers (2019) NASW Standards for Social Work Practice in Child Welfare https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=_FIu_UDcEac%3d&portalid=0

U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics and Wages.https://www.bls.gov/oes/2018/may/oes211021.htm

Social Work Policy Institute, Child Welfare. 2010 http://www.socialworkpolicy.org/research/child-welfare-2.html