# Ask the person who works with CPS **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 30, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-works-with-cps/785577 "2017-04-30T16:42:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2017, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-works-with-cps/785577/21 "2017-05-01T03:58:57Z")
Yes, when the kids are temporarily removed from their parents, the parents are flooded with free services: frequently parenting classes, drug rehabilitation, job training, domestic violence services, and how to apply for free medical care, housing assistance and food stamps. Some take advantage of the services and get their acts together. Some don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-works-with-cps/785577/22 "2017-05-01T04:03:36Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I have a friend who was a foster care caseworker in the mid 1990s; she left because she had a baby and the hours were not regular, nor were the hours worked by her then-husband. She did enjoy her job, BTW. One thing that sticks with me is that she could never get over how much these little kids almost always knew about sex toys, pornography, and drug paraphernalia. :eek: ☹ :mad: > > She also said that out of the clients who had to have children removed from their care, they were divided almost 50/50 between parents who had substance abuse issues, and parents whose primary reason for being unable to care for the children was mental disability, most often schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and/or mental retardation. In the former cases, the children were usually placed in the custody of strangers, and in the latter, most of the time they were placed with a relative who had often been trying to obtain custody since birth, or before, and wanted the biological parents to have generous visitation even if it had to be supervised. > > Neither she nor anyone I’ve seen online who posted in a thread similar to this one said that they’d ever received a report, founded or not, for parents who legitimately disciplined their children. People I have known IRL who were afraid of enforcing rules because they feared CPS usually had other reasons that we all knew about but didn’t tell them, like having drug dealers living with them, that kind of thing. :smack: > > Parents going through a messy divorce, or other relatives who are mad at somebody, don’t file reports as often as most people may think they do. The three biggest things that bring kids into care are substance abuse, domestic violence, and mental illness. And sometimes all three at once. The is ALWAYS the preference to have the kids live with a relative. If there is no relative, then another person who has a previous relationship with the kids, like a friend of the family. Only if there is no one appropriate available who are friends or family, do the kids go to foster care or a group home. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-works-with-cps/785577/23 "2017-05-01T04:04:01Z")
In the case of the man who was stealing food, his kids were not taken from him. He went to the agency’s food pantry and was told to take whatever he needed, and given the resources to apply for other aid that he needed. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-works-with-cps/785577/24 "2017-05-01T15:28:58Z")
If the child is allergic to cats, and the parent has a cat they refuse to get rid of, is that an actionable offense or just bad parenting? Asked more generically, is there a list of items (obvious drug use, bruises on the child, etc) that will always generate a department action, or is each case a judgement call? ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-works-with-cps/785577/25 "2017-05-02T03:40:24Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > If the child is allergic to cats, and the parent has a cat they refuse to get rid of, is that an actionable offense or just bad parenting? > > Asked more generically, is there a list of items (obvious drug use, bruises on the child, etc) that will always generate a department action, or is each case a judgement call? Allergic as in the child gets a runny nose or allergic as in the child has running sores all over his/her body?This is a good example of why there are too many details, and every case is different. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-works-with-cps/785577/26 "2017-05-02T11:49:25Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > Allergic as in the child gets a runny nose or allergic as in the child has running sores all over his/her body?This is a good example of why there are too many details, and every case is different. I spent 8 years working in CPS and every case \*is \*different. " Messy" is not “health hazard” and and they aren’t treated the same. As a very general rule, where I live children are not removed if there is a way to solve the problem without removing them. If children were sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor because they can’t afford beds, we bought beds. If the home was filthy (but not yet an immediate danger) we sent in a homemaker- whose job was to teach the parents how to cook, clean, shop etc, not to do it for them. Another general rule is that the ordinary foster care rules often don’t apply to relative foster parents and client families- so while my agency would not approve a foster home where mixed-gender children over a certain age would share a bedroom it did not mean children were removed from their homes for no other reason than lack of space. As far as “revenge” reports, in 8 years I only came across one that was clearly malicious. ( although not exactly revenge- and it wasn’t anonymous). But there were many, many unfounded reports that might have been made for revenge, or the reporter might have been mistaken or the reported behavior may have been going on but I didn’t find any proof. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-works-with-cps/785577/27 "2017-05-13T19:16:39Z")
After seeing a Facebook video in which a young girl told the school that her dad had a lot of weed at home (when what she meant was garden weeds - i.e., unwanted plants, not marijuana,) or hearing a story about someone who underwent Chinese “cupping” therapy (in which air-suction cups are applied to your skin, but unfortunately also leave large bruise marks,) I’m curious - does CPS tend to overreact in such misunderstanding situations? ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-works-with-cps/785577/28 "2017-05-13T21:59:59Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > After seeing a Facebook video in which a young girl told the school that her dad had a lot of weed at home (when what she meant was garden weeds - i.e., unwanted plants, not marijuana,) or hearing a story about someone who underwent Chinese “cupping” therapy (in which air-suction cups are applied to your skin, but unfortunately also leave large bruise marks,) I’m curious - does CPS tend to overreact in such misunderstanding situations? We are required to investigate once we receive a report. Usually the details can be sorted out rather quickly if the issues involve misunderstandings. Sometimes we need to get corroboration from a medical exam or psychological assessment. The issue with the weed would have likely been cleared up very quickly. The bruising with the cup might have involved a bit more investigation. In the state where I reside our CPS laws were recently rewritten due in part to a high profile sexual abuse case involving sexual molestation. We have to document and justify every response to a report that comes in. Reports usually come in through a central state portal now instead of people calling the local agency directly. If we get a call directly we still have to investigate and document our decision but it tends to be less involved and a little easier on families. It is a difficult job. I’ve been doing it for 22 years. I’m a supervisor now so I don’t do the immediate hands on work. I don’t know that I could handle that now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-works-with-cps/785577.md?page=1)