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Running Head: Community Problem

Veronica Mendoza
University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

Running Head: Community Problem

The security and safety of the children in the United States relies a lot on child welfare workers.
Child welfare workers insure and protect children from being physically, emotionally and
mentally abused or neglected. There are many steps child welfare workers have to take in order
to remove a child from their biological parents. As well as the process of putting them in foster
care homes. Many parents dealing with child protective services dont understand the power
child welfare have and what rights the parents have. It is a vital factor that all parents should
know and understand thoroughly.

Running Head: Community Problem

The job of a CPS worker is to insure the safety of the child and make sure he isnt being
neglected. They are responsible of identifying and documenting abuse and finding the
appropriate solutions to enhance the childs well being. They should also must be able to identify
the problem or threat immediately and be able to provide the appropriate services for the child.
Some of these might include, placing the child in foster care, counseling for both the child and
the parents or finding a home for children that have no guardian. The safety of the kids in the U.S
relies on CPS workers.

Research should analyze areas with these following questions:

1. What are the factors that affect foster care placement in children receiving child
protective services?
2. What do cps workers do in order to ensure the safety of the children?
3. What is child negligence?
4. What is the central role of foster parents?

What Is Child Welfare Services?

Many people in the U.S dont know what child welfare services are. Some might know what they
are but not fully. Child Welfare Services is a branch of government that protect children from

Running Head: Community Problem

abuse and/or neglect. Child welfare systems investigate reports of children that might possibly be
abused or neglected. Many hospitals and schools are the ones that contact CPS. CPS receives
the reports and conducts investigations and assessments and provide interventions to the families
in order to ensure safety. The child welfare system provides services to families that are in need
of assistance in the care and protection of their children. They might remove the children from
their parents and place them in foster homes in the process. The public welfare system functions
at a federal, state, and all local levels. The child welfare system varies depending on the states
laws and regulations. Once a report of suspected child abuse or neglect is received by the
Family & Childrens Services Hotline, it is evaluated using an evidence-based assessment known
as Structured Decision Making (SDM), which helps to guide toward the most appropriate
response. If it is determined that an in-person response must be made by an Emergency Response
(ER) social worker, the worker will assess further involvement by Family & Childrens Services
through one of three response paths. This family-centered, community-based approach is
known as the Differential Response model.

What are the factors that affect foster care placement in children receiving child protective
services?

The decision of CPS is all driven by one objective, to ensure the protection of the children and

Running Head: Community Problem

prevent any further maltreatment. One of the best options child welfare workers take in order to
ensure the safety of the children is placing them in substitute care. The foster parents where the
children are placed sometimes never receive money to support the kids and sometimes. One
might think that they have some sort of guide that the caseworkers and judges take in order to
make a decision but they dont. They work without guidelines and their decisions become
unreliable, every case is subject to individual basis and idiosyncratic factors. Theabsenceof

standardplacementcriteriaisnotbecauseofalackofconcern.Clinicalmodelshave
focusedonidentifyingcriteriathatshouldbeconsideredwhenmakingaplacement
decision.Althoughnotallmodelsidentifythesamestandards,criteriacanbeorganized
intosixdomains:child,parent,family,environment,maltreatment,andintervention
(Zuravin, S., & Depanfilis, D. 1997). This is one of the biggest factors that intervene with the
placement of children into permanent or temporary and one of the most important ones. This
means that the judges and caseworkers only do it based off of what they believe is right. They
have come up with models to identify and that should be considered while making a placement
decision, but its still not enough.

Whatischildnegligence?
Child neglect is one of the most common forms of child maltreatment. Approximately 899,000
children in the United States are a victims of neglect. There are different types of neglect. The
first one is physical neglect, which involves the parent or caregiver not providing the basic needs

Running Head: Community Problem

and necessities. For example, clothing, shelter, and food. The failure to provide these necessities
endangers the childs physical health and well being and growth and development. Physical
neglect also incudes inadequate supervision and abandonment of the child. Physical neglect can
really impact a childs development and well being. Another type of physical neglect is serious
physical harm like cuts, bruises, burns or any other injuries due to the lack of supervision. The
second type of neglect is emotional and psychological neglect which is the allowing a child to
use drugs or alcohol and by showing no affection. The third one educational neglect which is the
failure of the parent or caregiver to enroll the child in school or appropriate home schooling. And
the last one is medical neglect which is failure to provide the right health care for the child.

WhatisthemainorcentralroleofFosterparents?
Dealingwithkidsthataregoingthroughahardtimeintheirlifeisprobablyahardjobtodo.
Whatchildlikestobetakenawayfromtheirparentandbeplacedinahousewhereyoudont
knowanyone.Mostofthesekidsarelittleandundertheageof18.Everylittlekidneedtheir

Running Head: Community Problem

parents,thatswhyitsveryhardforfosterparents.Therearealotofkidsthatundergoalotof
maltreatment.Thisarticlementions Many children enter foster care suffering from insufficient
prenatal and health care, poverty, homelessness, exposure to alcohol and other drugs, learning
problems in school, and, of course, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Whentheyenter
fostercaretheyenterwithspecialhealthandmentalhealthneeds.ThearticlementionsTheir
role in improving child well being is explained and recommendations for policy, practice and
advocacy also are included. Foster parents have a policy and they have to follow all the
recommendations given by the welfare workers and judges. They are given steps to follow and
are given correct help in order to be the best for the children
Child welfare workers have a lot of work and investigation. Large amounts of kids are in trouble
and it is the job of CPS worker to intervene and help. Child welfare workers are always needed
thats why they are a branch of government. There are many different aspects of this job that
make it very stressful and difficult but they will always be needed. My recommendation would
be to further your studies in this profession. Helping children and saving their lives. There were a
lot of children that are being abused and neglected and we should be there to help.

References
(n.d.). Retrieved November 9, 2016, from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubpdfs/cpswork.pdf

Running Head: Community Problem

Zuravin, S., & Depanfilis, D. (1997). Factors affecting foster care placement of children receiving child protective services. Social Work
Research, 34-42. Retrieved from http://swr.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/1/34.full.pdf+html

Goldstein, J., & Freud, A. (1973). Beyond the best interests of the child (Vol. 1). New York:Free Press.
Retrieved from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=n7qqXaBxk8wC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&d
=1.%09What+are+the+steps+in+order+to+place+a+child+in+foster+care&ots=ak1LHvU
ySN&sig=eJzNEY97IQAOrqKS4WMk78CzCrw#v=onepage&q&f=false

Pasztor, E., Hollinger, D., Inkelas, M., & Halfon, N. (2006). Health and mental health services for children in foster care: The central
role of foster parents. Retrieved November 14, 2016, from
https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-healthinitiatives/healthy-foster careamerica/Documents/Health_and_
Mental_Health_Foster_Parents.pdf