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How They Operate
Authored & Edited by
egypt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From publications in the online catalog at Child Welfare Information Gateway:
 http://www.childwelfare.gov

Child Protective Services: A Guide for Caseworkers. 2003.
User Manual Series (2003)

Chapter One: Purpose and Overview

Child protective services (CPS), a division within State and local social services, is at the center of every community's child protection efforts. In most jurisdictions, CPS is the agency mandated by law to conduct an initial assessment or investigation of reports of child abuse and neglect. It also offers services to families and children where maltreatment has occurred or is likely to occur.

CPS does not work alone. Many community professionals—including law enforcement officers, health care providers, mental health professionals, educators, legal and court system personnel, and substitute care providers—are involved in efforts to prevent, identify, investigate, and treat child abuse and neglect. In addition, community-based and faith-based organizations, substance abuse treatment facilities, advocates for victims of domestic violence, extended family members, and concerned citizens, among others, also play important roles in supporting families and keeping children safe from harm. Typically, CPS is the lead agency in coordinating the efforts of the various disciplines working to protect children and to educate the community about the problems of child abuse and neglect.

This manual, Child Protective Services: A Guide for Caseworkers, provides the fundamental information that CPS professionals must know to perform essential casework functions. The manual describes:

       The philosophical basis on which CPS is founded;

       The responsibilities of CPS and its roles and relationships with other community agencies and professionals;

       The nature of the "helping relationship" and use of authority in working with children and families;

       The purposes, key decisions, and practice issues for the following stages of the CPS process:

  -     Intake
  -     Initial assessment or investigation
  -     Comprehensive family assessment
  -     Planning
  -     Service provision
  -     Evaluation of family progress
  -     Case closure

       The effective documentation of actions in case records and information systems;

       The strategies for casework supervision, training, consultation, and support.

Appendices to this manual include a glossary, sample casework tools, and references to additional publications and organizations with information on child protection.

Child abuse and neglect is a complex problem, and child protection is a challenging responsibility. No single publication can provide all the information needed to promote effective CPS practice, explore all of the relevant issues, or reflect the multitude of policy and practice variations in place across the country. This manual, however, provides a starting point and a solid foundation for casework practice that should be augmented through training, other professional development activities, and experience.

CPS workers are encouraged to read A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice. That manual, the first in the series, answers the following 10 questions:

       What are the philosophical tenets of child protection?

       What is child maltreatment?

       What is the scope of the problem?

       What factors contribute to abuse and neglect?

       What are the consequences of abuse and neglect?

       What can be done to prevent abuse and neglect?

       Which laws and policies guide public intervention in child maltreatment?

       What does the child protection process look like?

       Who should be involved in child protection at the community level?

       How can organizations work together to protect children?

This manual, the second in the series, recapitulates some of the most important points of the first manual.

Chapter Two: Child Protective Services Theory and Practice

The basis for child protective services (CPS) is a concern for the care of children, which is expressed through laws established in every State. The legal authority and the mandates that evolved from child abuse laws are described in A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice. These laws do not specify all that must be done to assist families and children, but they do provide a framework within which action can be taken.

This chapter further explores how CPS staff fulfill their responsibilities of protecting children at risk of child maltreatment. It begins with an expanded discussion of the philosophical tenets of child protection that are described in A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice. The chapter continues with a discussion of the theoretical and practical framework for CPS practice. Finally, there is an examination of the competencies required of CPS workers.

Philosophy of Child Protective Services

The basic philosophical tenets of CPS include the following:

A safe and permanent home and family is the best place for children to grow up. Every child has a right to adequate care and supervision and to be free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. It is the responsibility of parents to see that the physical, mental, emotional, educational, and medical needs of their children are adequately met. CPS should intervene only when parents request assistance or fail, by their acts or omissions, to meet their children's basic needs and keep them safe.

Most parents want to be good parents and, when adequately supported, they have the strength and capacity to care for their children and keep them safe. Most children are best cared for in their own family. Therefore, CPS focuses on building family strengths and provides parents with the assistance needed to keep their children safe so that the family may stay together.

Families who need assistance from CPS agencies are diverse in terms of structure, culture, race, religion, economic status, beliefs, values, and lifestyles. CPS agencies and practitioners must be responsive to and respectful of these differences. Further, CPS caseworkers should build on the strengths and protective factors within families and communities. They should advocate for families and help families gain access to the services they need. Often, securing access means helping families overcome barriers rooted in poverty or discrimination, such as readily accessible transportation to services.

CPS agencies are held accountable for achieving outcomes of child safety, permanence, and family well-being. To achieve safety and permanence for children, CPS must engage families in identifying and achieving family-level outcomes that reduce the risk of further maltreatment and ameliorate the effects of maltreatment that has already occurred.

CPS efforts are most likely to succeed when clients are involved and actively participate in the process. Whatever a caseworker's role, he or she must have the ability to develop helping alliances with family members. CPS caseworkers need to work in ways that encourage clients to fully participate in assessment, case planning, and other critical decisions in CPS intervention.

When parents cannot or will not fulfill their responsibilities to protect their children, CPS has the right and obligation to intervene directly on the children's behalf. Both laws and good practice maintain that interventions should be designed to help parents protect their children and should be as unobtrusive as possible. CPS must make reasonable efforts to develop safety plans to keep children with their families whenever possible, although they may refer for juvenile or family court intervention and placement when children cannot be kept safely within their own homes. To read more about the working relationship between CPS and the court system, please refer to the user manual on working with the courts.

When children are placed in out-of-home care because their safety cannot be assured, CPS should develop a permanency plan as soon as possible. In most cases, the preferred permanency plan is to reunify children with their families. All children need continuity in their lives, so if the goal is family reunification, the plan should include frequent visits between children and their families as well as other efforts to sustain the parent-child relationship while children are in foster care. In addition, the CPS agency must immediately work with the family to change the behaviors and conditions that led to the maltreatment and necessitated placement in out-of-home care.

To best protect a child's overall well-being, agencies want to assure that children move to permanency as quickly as possible. Therefore, along with developing plans to support reunification, agencies should develop alternative plans for permanence once a child enters the CPS system. As soon as it has been determined that a child cannot be safely reunited with his or her family, CPS must implement the alternative permanency plan.

Philosophical Underpinnings of CPS

Additional sources of information on the philosophical underpinnings of CPS and other child welfare service programs include:

       Pecora, P. J., Whittaker, J. K., Maluccio, A. N., Barth, R. P., & Plotnick, R. D. (2000). The child welfare challenge (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.

       National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators. (1999). Guidelines for a model system of protective services for abused and neglected children and their families. Washington, DC: American Public Human Services Association.

       Child Welfare League of America. (1999). CWLA standards of excellence for services for abused and neglected children and their families (revised edition). Washington, DC: Author.

       Waldfogel, J. (1998). The future of child protection: How to break the cycle of abuse and neglect. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

       Horejsi, C. (1996). Assessment and case planning in child protection and foster care services. Englewood, CO: American Humane Association, Children's Division.

Framework for Practice

This section explains how practitioners apply the philosophical tenets described above to practice. Practitioners generally agree that a "child-centered, family-focused, and culturally responsive" framework for child welfare practice will promote the best outcomes for children.¹ This integrative framework for practice builds on five main perspectives described below:

       Ecological perspective. This perspective conceptualizes human behavior and social functioning within an environmental context. Personal, family, and environmental factors interact with each other to influence the family. Child maltreatment is viewed as the consequence of the interplay between a complex set of risk and protective factors at the individual, family, community, and society levels.

       Strength-based perspective. This perspective refers to practice methods and strategies that draw upon the strengths of children, families, and communities. Strength-based practice involves a shift from a deficit approach, which emphasizes problems and pathology, to a positive partnership with the family. The assessments focus on the complex interplay of risks and strengths related to individual family members, the family as a unit, and the broader neighborhood and environment.

       Developmental perspective. This perspective refers to understanding individual growth and development and family development from a lifespan perspective, and examines individuals and families interacting with their environments over the course of time. Effective case planning takes into account which interventions are effective with a specific child or family problem, in a specific environmental setting, and at a particular developmental stage.²

       Permanency planning orientation. This orientation holds that all children have a right to a permanent home. Child welfare service delivery should focus on safely maintaining children in their own homes or, if necessary, placing them permanently with other families. Interventions include a set of goal-directed activities designed to help children live in safe families who offer a sense of belonging and legal, lifetime family ties.

       Cultural competence perspective. This perspective requires CPS practitioners to understand the perspective of clients or peers who may come from culturally diverse backgrounds and to adapt their practice accordingly. Basic cultural competence is achieved when organizations and practitioners accept and respect differences, engage in ongoing cultural self-assessment, expand their diversity knowledge and skills, and adapt service models to fit the target populations, culture, situation, and perceived needs.³

Caseworker Competence

Developing CPS caseworker competence is an ongoing process. Caseworkers build competence through education, training, experience, and supervision. Examples of the core qualities, values, knowledge, and skills associated with competency in CPS are included in Exhibit 2-1.

Since the 1990s, the need for competent workers has increased. This reflects concerns about the quality of the delivery of services; the increasing complexity of child welfare cases; and the need for inter- and intra-system collaboration and coordination with the courts as well as mental health, juvenile justice, education, domestic violence, health care, and substance abuse services. It also stems from the legislative mandates of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997, which requires the provision of timely assessment and intervention services to the children and families served within the CPS system.⁵

In response to ongoing staffing crises, some child welfare agencies are trying to address organizational problems and overburdened staff by setting standards for worker educational background and licensure—an effort toward "re-professionalization" of child welfare.⁶ To increase the competency of CPS staff, many States have developed and implemented competency-based training and certification programs. Some of these programs include readiness assessments and competency exams.

There is research that strongly suggests that higher education is essential for developing caseworker competencies. Both the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators (NAPCWA) and the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) suggest that CPS staff should have a bachelor's or master's degree in social work (B.S.W. or M.S.W.) or a degree in a closely related field. Social work education appears to be related to job retention and staff stability, which helps produce better child welfare practice.⁷

The Link Between Higher Education and Improved Child Welfare Practice

Research findings support the efficacy of social work education for public-sector child welfare practice. The following are highlights of several key studies:

       A national study of job requirements for child welfare workers found that turnover was consistently higher in States that do not require any academic social work preparation for child welfare positions and is consistently lower in States that require an M.S.W.⁸

       A Florida study suggested that workers without education in child welfare work were most likely to leave before 1 year.⁹

       A study by Hess, Folaron, and Jefferson found that caseworker turnover was a major factor in failed reunification efforts.¹⁰

       A Maryland study found that having an M.S.W. degree appeared to be the best predictor of overall performance in social service work.¹¹

       A study of social service workers in Kentucky found that staff members with social work degrees were better prepared for their work than those without them.¹²

       Abers, Reilly, and Rittner found that child welfare staff with B.S.W. and M.S.W. degrees were more effective in developing successful permanency plans for children who had been in foster care for more than 2 years than were staff without these degrees.¹³

An important strategy for increasing the preparedness of CPS workers is to direct Federal funding toward the education and recruitment of social work students into public child welfare work. The Title IV-E Public Child Welfare Education Program represents a shift in Federally funded education and training of public child welfare workers from an emphasis on traditional inservice training through workshops, conferences, consultation, and staff development, to an emphasis on university and public agency collaboration and partnership.¹⁴ B.S.W. students report that financial support opportunities (such as loan forgiveness or stipends) and exposure to child welfare practice during their social work education program are important factors in helping them choose child welfare as a future career.¹⁵

For examples of State and Federal initiatives focused on increasing the competency of child welfare personnel, see Partnerships for Child Welfare newsletters published by the Council on Social Work Education. Available at: www.cswe.org.

Child welfare training information and materials can be found on the Online Network of Child Welfare Training Resources: http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/workforce/index.cfm.

Chapter Three: The Helping Relationship

Developing a helping relationship with abused and neglected children and their families is critical to changing the conditions or patterns of behavior that contributed to the risk of maltreatment. Experience has demonstrated that successful intervention and treatment depend heavily on the quality of the caseworker's relationship with the children and family.

Developing helping alliances with families and children at risk for child maltreatment is challenging because they may have a history of difficulties in forming and sustaining mutually supportive, interpersonal relationships, and they may not have had positive relationships with formal systems, such as schools, social services, or counseling services.¹⁶ Whether one's role is interviewing family members as part of the initial assessment or investigation, or determining what must change to reduce the risk of maltreatment and improve outcomes for risk reduction, the quality of the caseworker's effort is directly dependent on his or her ability to develop a collaborative relationship.¹⁷

This relationship begins with the very first contact and continues to develop with ongoing caseworker and client communication and interaction. By definition, relationships have a strong emotional component. Good relationships do not just happen; they must be built. The relationship does not result from a caseworker's charismatic personality or a mystical connection between people. Rather, it is a product of the caseworker's commitment to helping the children and family, his or her ability to relate effectively on an interpersonal level, and the children and the family's willingness to be open and risk "relating" to the caseworker. Caseworkers' behavior can significantly increase the chances that a positive relationship will develop.¹⁸

Core Conditions of the Helping Relationship

Researchers have defined three core conditions that are essential to the helping relationship:

       Empathy

       Respect

       Genuineness¹⁹

A caseworker's ability to communicate these three core conditions will strongly influence whether they will build a relationship with the children and family that is characterized by cooperation or a relationship that is hostile and distrustful. Each of the conditions is described below.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to perceive and communicate with sensitivity the feelings and experiences of another person by being an active responder rather than a passive listener. Empathy is a process of attempting to experience another person's world and then communicating an understanding of, and compassion for, the other's experience. The caseworker should focus on the verbal and nonverbal cues, such as smiling or eye-rolling, presented by the children and family and frequently share his or her understanding of what the client has communicated. The content of the message is never ignored, but empathy goes beyond the facts, circumstances, and events of the children's and family's life and conveys an understanding of how those circumstances uniquely affect them.

Empathy builds trust and openness and helps to establish rapport between the children and family and the caseworker. Caseworkers can demonstrate empathy by:

       Paying attention to verbal and nonverbal cues;

       Communicating an understanding of the children's and family's message;

       Showing a desire to understand;

       Discussing what is important to the children and family;

       Referring to the children's and family's feelings.

In their effort to be empathetic, some new caseworkers may lose their objectivity and "over-identify" with the children's perspective or, in other cases, be so family-centered as to ignore some risk factors. It also should be recognized that some in the helping profession have been abused and may over-identify with either the child or the parent. Some signs of over-identification may include a difficulty or inability seeing a parent's strengths or being unable to see any possible positive intention behind the parent's behavior. This may make it difficult to be empathetic to other family members, which may lead to counterproductive outcomes for the family as a whole.²⁰

Respect

Respect refers to the caseworker's communication of acceptance, caring, and concern for the children and family. It involves valuing the individual family members as people, separate from any evaluation of their behavior or thoughts, although this does not mean that caseworkers sanction or approve thoughts or behaviors that society may disapprove.

All human beings need to feel accepted and respected; it is especially important for abused and neglected children and their families to feel accepted and respected by their caseworker. Many abused and neglected children and their families fear or mistrust caseworkers and the social service system. The helping relationship will not be established unless the caseworker communicates respect for each person's potential. Caseworkers should believe that all people have the strength, internal resiliency, and capacity to become more competent.

Respect also means using culturally competent practice. Culturally competent practice entails:

       Cultural awareness. Caseworkers should understand and identify the critical cultural values important to the children and family as well as to themselves.

       Knowledge acquisition. Caseworkers should understand how these cultural values function as strengths in the children and family.

       Skill development. Caseworkers should be able to match services that support the identified cultural values and then incorporate them in the appropriate interventions.

       Inductive learning. Caseworkers should continue to seek solutions that include considering indigenous interventions and matching cultural values to Western interventions.²¹

Genuineness

Genuineness refers to caseworkers being themselves. This means simply that caseworkers are consistent in what they say and do, nondefensive, and authentic. They must have clear knowledge and an acceptance of the agency's authority, procedures, and policies, and of their professional role—both in its meaning to the worker and the meaning to abused and neglected children and their families. Genuineness means integrating who we are and our role in the agency with acceptance of children and families and a commitment to their welfare. If this occurs, then what caseworkers say will match their attitudes and beliefs.

However, a worker must use discretion. For example, if a caseworker feels shock, horror, or anger over a parent's abusive behavior, expressing these feelings would not be productive. In fact, it may alienate parents, causing them to be angry, defensive, or resistant. Rather, caseworkers need to be aware of their feelings and at the same time respond in a respectful manner that opens rather than closes communication.

Genuineness contributes to the helping relationship by reducing the emotional distance between the caseworker and the children and family and by helping them to identify the caseworker as another human being similar to himself or herself. Caseworkers can demonstrate genuineness by:

       Being themselves and not taking on a role or acting contrary to how they believe or feel;

       Making sure that their nonverbal and verbal responses match;

       Using nonverbal behaviors—such as eye contact, smiles, or sitting forward in the chair—to communicate trustworthiness and acceptance;

       Being able to express themselves naturally without artificial behaviors;

       Being nondefensive.²²

Another means by which caseworkers can demonstrate genuineness is through the use of self-disclosure. When used carefully, this can be an effective method for establishing a connection between the caseworker and the client. It is important, however, that self-disclosure is used judiciously to prevent a shift in the focus from the client to the caseworker.

Techniques for Building Rapport

In addition to the core conditions and guiding principles for developing a helping relationship, there are specific techniques caseworkers can use to build rapport. The following list provides some examples:

       Approach each individual involved with an open mind.

       Find out what is important to the child and to the family. For example, do not press the issue of staying sober as the priority if that is not important to the parent or caretaker, but do explain that staying sober will speed up getting the children back if that is their priority.

       Use mirroring. Take note of words used by the child or family and try to incorporate them into your conversations.

       Listen to the child or parent's explanation of the situation without correcting or arguing.

       Ask questions rather than issuing threats or commands.

       Clarify expectations and purposes. Clearly explain the helping process and the caseworker's role in working together toward solutions.

       Help the child and parent or caretaker retain a sense of control; for example, involve them in scheduling appointments and ask how they would like to be addressed.

       Clarify commitment and obligations to the working relationship.

       Acknowledge difficult feelings and encourage open and honest discussion of feelings.

       Be consistent, persistent, and follow through.

       Promote participatory decision-making for meeting needs and solving problems.²³

These are only a few key techniques; there are many other methods that will help build rapport.

Use of Authority in Child Protective Services

Child protective services (CPS) is an expression of a community's concern for the welfare of its citizens. Child protective services are provided because the community recognizes that children have the right to safety and that parents have obligations and responsibilities. The authority to provide these services is vested in the CPS agency and staff through laws and government policies. Competent CPS practice involves using this authority effectively. The use of CPS authority has special relevance at the initial assessment or investigation stage of the casework process, but is applicable at all other stages as well. In fact, effective use of authority is an essential ingredient in establishing helping relationships with all involuntary clients.

Authority, whatever its source, can impede or enable the development of trust between the CPS caseworker and the children and family. The constructive and positive use of authority involves (1) stating one's purpose and function clearly at all times, (2) supporting and challenging the children and family, and (3) expressing feelings. This approach provides the children and family with a feeling of confidence that the caseworker:

       Knows what he or she is doing;

       Is secure in his or her position;

       Intends the best for the child, parents, family, and society.²⁴

Difficulties in Using Authority Effectively

The caseworker's effective use of authority reduces opposition and assists in engaging children and families. There are several factors in CPS work that may make this difficult:

       Even though CPS caseworkers have the legally mandated authority to investigate abuse and neglect, if they lack the children's and family's respect, they may experience difficulty influencing the change process.

       There may not be agreement between CPS, the children, and the family about what constitutes appropriate and effective intervention.

       If the caseworker is not able to overcome any negative perceptions he or she has of the children and family, it may influence engagement.