9.5: The Job of the CPS Worker

The Job of the Child Protective Services (CPS) Worker

The job of a Child Protective Services (CPS) Caseworker is varied and demanding, both physically and emotionally. A great deal is entailed in this important profession. These men and women are tasked with ensuring the safety of children in our country. They conduct investigations, visit families, interview children and adults and help families find the services that they need to be able to better raise their children. Sometimes, these workers are able to help families locate food, shelter, clothing, childcare, transportation, counseling and jobs. Sometimes, these workers must make the difficult decisions to remove the children from the home for their own safety. Often, these professional social workers struggle with the decisions they make, hoping that it was the right decision. Child Protective Services workers are typically overworked and underpaid. Their caseloads have increased in recent years, partly due to an increase in calls related to the opioid epidemic. They must decide which calls are credible and warrant an investigation. Nationwide, approximately half of all reports are investigated.

Investigations may include interviewing the child(ren) at school or childcare, before the parent knows there is an investigation. The investigators may have a medical professional examine the child for physical injuries or neglect, and a child counselor examine the child for trauma or mental illness. The investigator will likely visit with neighbors, teachers or other adults who may have observed the environment in which the child lives, or may have witnessed or heard how the parents treat and care for the child. The investigator will also interview the parents, inspect the living environment and ensure that the child is safe. Once the investigator makes a determination, they will work with the family to help provide whatever services may be beneficial. The CPS investigator will also document their interviews and findings, and file reports to the CPS system. If the children are placed in protective care outside of their parent’s home, the CPS worker becomes even more involved; they work with foster families, schools, CASAs and the court to ensure that the children receive whatever care and services they may

need. At the same time that the worker is looking out for the best interest of the child, they are also providing services to the parents which will enable the children to return home.

CPS workers prepare reports for the court, documenting everything for a judge to review and rule on. They will often be called to provide testimony in court. When a child is removed from the custody of his/her parents, the child becomes a ward of the state. A judge then makes all decisions about what happens in that child’s life; day-to-day decisions are made by the CPS Social Worker. All of this takes a great deal of time and energy for each child; caseworkers typically have several dozen children on their caseloads at any given time. This is a demanding job that doesn’t pay a lot of money; the turnover rate of CPS caseworkers is very high.

In 2017, an estimated 1,720 children died from child abuse; 27% of them were previously known to CPS. Those are the cases that tend to haunt CPS workers… they wonder “did they do enough to protect the child?” (CBS This Morning) Many tragic cases have been exposed through news stories, documentaries, and movies, in which CPS workers decide to leave a child in the home only for that child to later die from abuse. Like many issues, the negative cases tend to be what makes the news. There are positive outcomes, as well. This work is grueling and heartbreaking at times but can also be very gratifying when a family is helped because of what the worker does. The goal of CPS is to keep children safe while keeping families together.