AFFECTING CHANGE-CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES

Affecting Change-Child Protective Services

Affecting Change-Child Protective Services

Introduction

Child protection can be divided broadly into four functions: 1) investigations; 2) case management, which includes decision-making, coordination, and legal prosecution; 3) services to children and families; and 4) foster care and adoption services for children. It is easier to understand what privatization means by considering these functions in reverse order. Child Protective Services (CPS) is a government agency that acts to ensure the safety of children and uphold child laws(Whitney Davis 2009).

When any reports of child abuse, child neglect, exploitation or abandonment arise, CPS is called upon to conduct an investigation. If CPS believes a child is in danger, the agency can seek help from the police or the courts to enter a home and inspect the child, even when permission is denied by the family. Unless a child is at risk of serious harm, CPS will work with a family and provide or arrange for social services to keep the child in the home. If the child must be temporarily removed for safety reasons, the primary goal is to return the child to the home and to his or her family, if at all possible(Kolko Barbara Nicola 2003).

Child Protective Services

The Child Protective Services (CPS) worker participating on a DEC response team assists in coordinating the team assessments, including transportation to and from appointments, and coordinates communication between the criminal dependency and/or family law courts. Child protective services typically operate under local county offices of social services, and, when necessary, intervene on behalf of children at the direction of the juvenile court(Beeman Hagemeister Edleson 1999).

When parents who are illegally manufacturing or abusing drugs are suspected of child endangerment, child welfare workers determine the course of the child welfare investigation and share information with law enforcement officers, district attorneys' offices, and health care and mental health agencies. Investigations by CPS and/or adult protective services (who become involved when vulnerable adults are found at the scene) may involve law enforcement assistance when necessary for the safety of children or other vulnerable family members.

Current Status Of Child Protective Services in Miami Dade County

DCF is responsible for all child welfare services, including child protection, foster care, kinship foster care, independent living support, shelter care placement, adoption and family preservation. Services are delivered and data are collected by a combination of counties, regions and districts. Most social services are provided by districts. Florida currently has 13 districts comprised of one to eight counties and one region, the Suncoast Region. The number of districts, and the counties included, has changed over the years. Most state oversight and administration is conducted at the district level and most of Florida's social services data is collected by district(www.dcf.state.fl.us). 

In 2000, DCF recommended to the Legislature that it restructure itself from 15 districts to seven regions. The Legislature approved one prototype region. DCF has indicated that it will form other regions, but will keep a limited district structure in place, since the districts are established in state statute. In fiscal 2003, CPS contracted with private agencies to care for about 75 percent of ...