Child Protective Services: A Guide for Caseworkers

About The Authors

Diane DePanfilis, Ph.D., M.S.W., is Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where she teaches social work practice and child welfare research courses in the Master’s of Social Work program and research seminars in the doctoral program. She is also co-director of the Center for Families, an interdisciplinary partnership between the schools of social work and medicine and the department of pediatrics. Over the past 30 years she has provided child welfare services at the local level as a caseworker, supervisor, and administrator; worked as a consultant at the national level conducting program evaluations and providing training and technical assistance to social workers and other disciplines; and conducted extensive studies related to the delivery of child protective services and the prevention of child maltreatment. She is co-editor of the Handbook on Child Protection Practice and is a former president of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.

Marsha K. Salus, M.S.W., is a social work consultant. She has worked in the child welfare field for 27 years. She began her career as a CPS worker and supervisor. She has developed several national curricula for child welfare workers and supervisors. She developed a number of preservice and inservice training programs for child welfare workers and supervisors in a variety of States. For example, Ms. Salus developed a 12-day core supervisory training program entitled “Mastering the Art of Child Welfare Supervision,” which she has delivered throughout the country. In addition, she has provided training on all aspects of family violence to multidisciplinary audiences around the country. Ms. Salus has assisted State and local CPS agencies in program development and program evaluation and has worked with several States to establish standards of practice for child welfare supervision.

Course Description

Each day, the safety and well-being of some children across the Nation are threatened by child abuse and neglect. Intervening effectively in the lives of these children and their families is not the sole responsibility of any single agency or professional group, but rather is a shared community concern

Since the late 1970s, the Child Abuse and Neglect User Manual Series has provided guidance on child protection to hundreds of thousands of multidisciplinary professionals and concerned community members. The User Manual Series offers a foundation for understanding child maltreatment and the roles and responsibilities of various practitioners in its prevention, identification, investigation, and treatment. Through the years, the manuals have served as valuable resources for building knowledge, promoting effective practices, and enhancing community collaboration.

child_protective

Since the last update of the User Manual Series in the early 1990s, a number of changes have occurred that dramatically affect each community’s response to child maltreatment. The changing landscape reflects increased recognition of the complexity of issues facing children and families, new legislation, practice innovations, and systems reform efforts. Significant advances in research have helped shape new directions for interventions, while ongoing evaluations help us to know “what works.” The Office on Child Abuse and Neglect (OCAN) within the Children’s Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), has developed this third edition of the User Manual Series to reflect our increased knowledge and the evolving state of practice on child protection. The updated and new manuals are comprehensive in scope while also succinct in presentation and easy to follow, and they address trends and concerns relevant to today’s professional.

This manual, Child Protective Services: A Guide for Caseworkers, examines the roles and responsibilities of child protective services (CPS) workers, who are at the forefront of every community’s child protection efforts. The manual describes the basic stages of the CPS process and the steps necessary to accomplish each stage: intake, initial assessment or investigation, family assessment, case planning, service provision, evaluation of family progress, and case closure. Best practices and critical issues in casework practice are underscored throughout. The primary audience for this manual includes CPS caseworkers, supervisors, and administrators. State and local CPS agency trainers may use the manual for preservice or inservice training of CPS caseworkers, while schools of social work may add it to class reading lists to orient students to the field of child protection. In addition, other professionals and concerned community members may consult the manual for a greater understanding of the child protection process.

This manual builds on the information presented in A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice. Readers are encouraged to begin with that manual as it addresses important information on which CPS practice is based—including definitions of child maltreatment, risk factors, consequences, and the Federal and State basis for intervention. Some manuals in the series also may be of interest in understanding the roles of other professional groups in responding to child abuse and neglect, including: • Substance abuse treatment providers • Domestic violence victim advocates • Educators • Law enforcement personnel. Other manuals address special issues, such as building partnerships and working with the courts on CPS cases.

Learning Objectives

After completing this course you’ll be able to:

  1. Describe the basic stages of the Child Protective Services (C.P.S.) process and the steps necessary to perform essential casework functions.
  2. Discuss the philosophical basis on which C.P.S. is founded.
  3. Explain the relationship between C.P.S. and other community agencies and professionals.
  4. Compare the “helping relationship” and the use of authority in working with children and families.
  5. List some of the factors contributing to, and resulting consequences of, child abuse and neglect.
  6. Demonstrate the importance of effective documentation when involved with case records, information systems, and related legal documents.
  7. Describe strategies for casework supervision, training, consultation, and support.
  8. Discuss how various community organizations can work together to better protect children and their families.