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Being the Good Guy in a bad guy role. Part 1: Behind the scenes

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For 6 years, I was a Child Protection Investigator for a fairly good sized county. I will not mention the county or state due to the nature of the work; nor will I use real names or dates. I want to tell the story as best as I can but I also understand the importance of maintaining client confidentiality.

I started working in Child Protective Services (CPS) immediately after graduating with a Master’s in Social Work. I read the job description and it spoke to me as something I could really enjoy doing. I was going to be on the ground, a first responder of sorts, making a difference. I saw there was a freedom in my ability to gather information and make determinations based upon that evidence. What I did not know what the influence and impact that being a government employee was going to have on those abilities.

When I started, I was put into a group orientation so that we could learn how the county operated and a general introduction into guidelines, statutes, and the record keeping system. After a month, we were assigned investigations, case management, or intake. I expressed that I was only interested in investigations and thankfully that is what I was assigned. After that, I started training in my unit for my actual job. I was finally an Investigator!

My training on the ground involved going to meet families with co-workers, learning the process of note taking, and practicing how to close cases once the investigation was done. After 2-3 weeks, I was given my own cases to investigate and was sent on my way. After 1-2 weeks, I was given a 24-hour case; this meant that I had 24 hours to meet with all of the alleged victims and set up times to meet with their parents to formulate safety plans. I had no idea that this first case was going to impact and direct my career for the next 6 years of my life.

Before I get into the details of the case, I want sot explain about how CPS work. There is a lot out there that is not entirely true and I want to make these things clear prior to discussing the details of the case. To be specific, I worked in one state, at one agency, within one unit, so my information is based upon those stipulations and are not to be generalized across the country. I understand that each state, county, city, etc have their own rules and structural organization and I will not be speaking to that.

For ease of understanding, I will break down how a case goes from start to finish.

Intake

  1. A report alleging abuse or neglect is called into the intake line.
  2. Intake takes all the necessary information and decides what guideline the report falls under.
    • Abuse
      • Physical Abuse– Visible injury or marks, or a report of the child reporting injury by a caregiver. Corporal punishment inappropriate for their age. Striking a child on the head under the age of 3. Biting, Punching, Choking, Throwing, Stomping, Kicking, drawing blood; by a caregiver.
      • Sexual Abuse– Abuse involving genitalia and/or breasts- must be perpetuated by a person in a caregiving role, member of the household, or family member over the age of 10. This also includes removal or attempted removal of clothing around the genitals.
      • Emotional Abuse/ Mental Injury– Name calling, threats, differential treatment of one child, shaming, extreme triangulation between separated parents; must have a noticeable impact on their life outside of the home that is observed and reported by a professional.
      • Threatened Injury-Domestic violence within the home, person with previous termination of their parental rights within the home
      • Threatened Sexual Abuse- sexual/ predatory offender within the home, child pornography within the home, allowing sexual abuse to occur, behavior that could be seen as sexual but does not include the genitals (i.e. open mouth kissing, watching a child bathe, etc.)
      • Prenatal Exposure-Using substances while pregnant and those substances appear in the urine and stool of the baby once they are born.
      • Birth Match- At the time of birth, it is established that the parent has had their rights terminated for previous children, or there is other criminal history that places that child at immediate risk of danger if with the parent.
    • Neglect
      • Medical Neglect- Going against medical advice or not adhering to follow-up directions to the extent that it is a threat or harm to the child.
      • Inadequate Supervision- Not providing the minimum required supervision of a child based upon their age and mental status. This is also influenced by the number of children in the home and whether or not there are previous reports of this.
      • Basic Needs- Food, Shelter, Clothing, Hygiene, Protection from the weather
      • Environmental Hazards- Protection from dangerous situations in the home, Access to alcohol and/or other substances
      • Educational-Failing to ensure that the child is attending school, failing to respond or take action when concerns are expressed by school officials.
      • Chronic and Severe Use of Substances- The caregiver uses a substance to the extent that the child is being negatively impacted and/or harmed as a result. This includes repeated CPS involvement.
    • Sexual trafficking/ Exploitation– Placing the child in a situation where they are at risk of exploitation or trafficking using any sort of media or in person.
  3. The report is assigned an assessment track.
    • Family Assessment (FA)- Generally a 5 day response is required for initial contact with alleged victims- Determination does not include a Maltreatment Finding* (Will be discussed later). an FA means that there is no physical or immediate harm and that there is not an excess of prior CPS history.
    • Investigation (INV)- 72 hour response requested, 5 day required for initial contact with alleged victims- Determination does include a Maltreatment Finding. A physical injury, life threatening situation, police involvement, or excess in prior CPS history.
    • 24 Hour Investigation (24INV)- Requires immediate response and safety plan within 24 hours of the initial report being made. Death, Near Death, serious injury, sexual abuse, threatened sexual abuse, birth match. Determination includes a Maltreatment Finding.
  4. Report sent to Investigations and Cross-Reported to Local Law Enforcement.

Investigations

  1. Review report details, identify which track was assigned, determine family members.
  2. Cross report to Law Enforcement to determine if they are going to do a tandem investigation for criminal charges.
  3. Locate victims, identify all parents, background check, review CPS history
  4. Visit Children and interview them regarding the report and assess for safety.
    • If they are NOT IN IMMEDIATE DANGER OR THREAT OF HARM-Meet with family to create safety plan and interview members.
    • If they are IN IMMEDIATE DANGER, IN THREAT OF HARM, SERIOUSLY INJURED, AFRAID TO GO HOME- Consult with Law Enforcement (LE) about child not going home
      • If LE says the child needs to go home, a safety plan must be made with the family
      • If LE says the child should not go home- Find a family member for the child to go to
        • If family is found, Bring the child to the family member or schedule for the family member to pick up the child and give them 72 Hour Paperwork sting that the police find the child in danger if returned home with thier caregivers. Explain Contact restrictions and upcoming court date.
        • If family is not found- Call placement center so that a non-relative placement (foster) can be located. When the placement is secured, bring the child, with the HOLD paperwork and explain contact restrictions and upcoming court.
  5. Meet with Parents to interview regarding allegations and get demographic information.
    • If HOLD- Explain Process
    • If kids are to remain in the home, explain safety plan and next steps to work toward case closure.
  6. After children, parents, and collaterals (extra people with information regarding the allegations), meet with supervisor and LE if assigned to decide next steps.
    • Next Steps
      • Close Without a finding- This can be with or without a referral for ongoing Case Management Services.
      • Close With a finding- This can be with or without a referral for ongoing Case Management Services.
      • If on a HOLD- Refer to Case Management, Schedule Court Consult with Legal team
        • Court Consult- Prepare all information from current Assessment, Complete Full Background Check, Full Child Protection History from entire State, Present to Legal team.
          • If the legal team agrees that court is needed, court will be scheduled
          • If legal team does not see a need for court, the case will be referred for ongoing case management to begin work
      • If Court is scheduled- Judge ultimately determines if the children stay out of the home or return. They also have final say in the required steps needed for court and the case to close.
        • If Court is Dismissed, the case will close.
        • If Court is not Dismissed, the next hearing will be scheduled and the family will meet with Case Management to create a plan to remedy concerns. This Case Management usually lasts between 3-6 months but can go longer depending on the family participation and concerns.

  • Generally speaking, the reasons that a child gets removed from a home include: Serious Injury, Hospitalization, Police Involvement, Domestic Violence, Chronic and Severe Substance Use, and Unsafe Living Conditions. These decisions are never made individually and are reached through consultation with Law Enforcement, Supervisors (possibly even more hirer ups), and/or legal teams. This is done so that even if the investigator is not great at their job or has a chip on their shoulder, this will not impact the children. Again, this is in the state and county that I was in and should not be generalized across the country unfortunately.

  • Maltreatment Finding- This means that the county has determined that the abuse, neglect or other maltreatment is severe enough that there needs to be a determination that is available for outside entities to be able to view. These determinations can be viewed by schools, hospitals, and other agencies that work with vulnerable adults or children when the person is applying for a job. This determination is to act as a warning to the employer that the person has done something that warrants concern even if it does not warrant a criminal charge. Once the determination is made, the individual has 90 days to appeal the decision and ask the the Department of Human Services (DHS) review the investigation regarding its validity. DHS can then ask the investigator to present the case to a DHA judge so that a new determination can be made or so that the original determination can remain.

This is a lot of information! As we used to say all the time, this is “Clear as Mud”!

Let me know if you have any questions.

In the next part, I will talk more about the case itself.