My neighbor works for CPS. It's so horrible. She has an impossible caseload and very little support. The rules are insane. Bio family is put first even if the bio family abusive, addicted to drugs, and terrible. A loving foster family wants to foster to adopt but can't because the bio mom's older sister might grudgingly take the child. So, the kid gets circulated around for a while and then put in a group home.

My neighbor has never looked at a family twice for a kid "falling off a jungle gym." I suppose that happens somewhere but her cases are so way beyond minor scrapes and bruises. She doesn't have time for that crap.

Anonymous wrote:I think we’d have to properly fund and staff CPS first.

yep, if anyone should be held accountable...it's those who have the power to properly fund but won't

They should be held accountable when they throw about their power and separate families under totally normal cases like a kid off their bike or jungle gym or trampoline. Not every bruise and cut is worth making a case over.

They can be very racist and investigate when a BiPOC man raises his voice in public at a misbehaving child or one trying to pull away in a busy parking lot.

Happens to my SIL and my good friend. My friend’s husband is even a cop and because someone complained there was CPS and another agency at the door.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should definitely be able to better tell normal families with an occasional slap from the horrendous abuse cases. Mandatory reporters should not be told to report every single slightly suspicious thing. They need to zoom in on serious cases instead of harassing middle class parents who slapped Johnny because he was being a brat

As someone who was abused in my UMC family, I can tell you that people like you are a huge part of the problem.

np. presumably your abuse constituted more than a couple slaps in the face

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They are way too underfunded to expect them to be perfect at their jobs.[/quote]

It's not about the pay, it's about protecting a child from harm and danger! Sure everyone has to pay their bills somehow, but when talking about life and death, nobody should have that kind of mentality. CPS is a child protection service, they SHOULD be doing their jobs properly.[/quote]

We aren't talking salary - we are talking underfunding leads to huge caseloads, which means that people can't spend enough time monitoring each family.[/quote]

Huge caseloads, long hours, bad administration/support...

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They are way too underfunded to expect them to be perfect at their jobs.[/quote]

It's not about the pay, it's about protecting a child from harm and danger! Sure everyone has to pay their bills somehow, but when talking about life and death, nobody should have that kind of mentality. CPS is a child protection service, they SHOULD be doing their jobs properly.[/quote]

The pay is just one factor of the job but if you cannot afford to feed, house and clothe your own kids, let alone pay for child care, it's an issue. A lot of social workers end up finding new careers or SAH after they have kids because they cannot afford child care. And, sometimes things look good on the outside during a visit and it's impossible to see what really happens when you aren't there. (not to justify it as there are some really bad CPS workers and some really good ones).