Why Child Protective Services Needs Reform

In the United States, Child Protective Services is a publically-funded agency that removes children from abusive or dangerous home environments. The need for these services arose from the recognition that society has the obligation to aid children who are mistreated or neglected by their parents. Yet, for over ten years it has come to light that as an alternative, Child Protective Services might not be providing children with a better option. Fundamental problems with protective services include overcapacity and the failure to identify children who need to be taken into custody. The inability to provide critical oversight has resulted in a system that is broken and that fails to serve its core mission of protecting children.

In 2000, Waldfogel published her article “Reforming Child Protective Services” in Child Welfare. Waldfogel’s critique of Child Protective Services (CPS) is relevant today because she outlines several fundamental problems that still plague the system. As Waldfogel noted, overcapacity is the main problem faced by the system. Evidencing the need for the system, it was noted that in 1997, three million children were reported to CPS; this figure was four times the number reported twenty years prior (Waldfogel, 2000, p. 44). The main reason for this expansion was that the system tended to admit low-risk families while at the same time neglecting children who were most in need of protection (2000, p. 44). Because CPS was ineffective in targeting families that truly needed help and was quick to remove children from their homes when it was hardly warranted, the system expanded its intake beyond its capacity.

One consequence of admitting more children that the system has the ability to process is that oversight is diminished. While children are placed into temporary shelters or foster homes, it is not possible for CPS to adequately monitor these living arrangements to prevent children from being mistreated. Though Waldfogel’s critique of CPS was made over ten years ago, the problem of child maltreatment and neglect of children placed with CPS is still problematic. As Sherman, Wilson, and Smith (2013) note, the 2011 figures report that CPS received 3.4 million referrals that implicated the abuse of 6.2 million children (p. 42), double the figures reported by Waldfogel for 1997. These increases come at a time when the number of children suffering an injury from abuse has decreased (2013, p. 42). As this trend indicates, the problem of over-admitting children into the system is still a problem that hinders its efficacy.

While society has an obligation to protect children who live in abusive environments, the expansion of Child Protective Services hints at an overreaching bureaucracy that fails to effectively handle cases of abuse and neglect. Rather than seeking intermediary solutions, the system takes children away from their families whether the system is warranted or not. Further, research suggests that over-capacity of the system is correlated with many at-risk populations being neglected while low-risk families are overrepresented in the system. The result is that millions of children are being placed into a system that does not have the ability to consider their individual needs or provide them with the levels of protection that they require.

References

Sheldon-Sherman, J., Wilson, D., & Smith, S. (2013). Extent and nature of child maltreatment-related fatalities: Implications for policy and practice. Child Welfare, 92(2), 41-58.

Waldfogel, J. (2000). Reforming child protective services. Child Welfare, 79(1), 43-57.