Responsibilities of Child Protective Services Workers Expert Article

Social workers play an integral part in protecting and ensuring the safety and well-being of children, and are embedded into a variety of agencies like hospitals, schools, mental health, and social service agencies.

This article provides an overview of the standard of care for Child Protective Services (CPS) workers, through the lens of our forensic casework.

Duties & Responsibilities of Child Protective Services Workers

Social work expert witnesses examine the actions and responsibilities of social workers and agencies in incident-specific settings. All social workers are bound by ethics like mandated reporting of suspected child abuse, for example. The specific agency setting often determines their distinct roles, responsibilities, and required qualifications.

Child Protective Services workers are typically employed by state or county health and human services agencies and work directly with families and children who have been assessed and identified as in need of child protective intervention due to substantiated abuse (physical, sexual, emotional) and/or neglect.

Children in protective custody are assigned to a social worker to manage their in-home or out-of-home placement (foster home, group home, etc.), care, services, and short-term and long-term plans.

Training

A Child Protective Services worker is responsible for performing their job duties as assigned and mandated by state laws and county policies. The supervisor and agency are responsible for training, supervising, and providing oversight to employees to ensure they fulfil their job duties as mandated.

If a supervisor and/or agency fails to train and/or provide appropriate oversight to their employees, the supervisor and the agency may also be responsible for damages.

Child protective services agencies typically train new employees through a competency-based core curriculum. This curriculum contains a series of modules that relate to child and family safety, permanency, and well-being.

Modules include topics such as: defining types of child abuse/neglect, Child Protective Services Law (CPSL) and related child laws, client engagement, investigation protocols, safety assessment, risk assessment, permanency and concurrent planning, dependency court, family service planning, child development, and case closure.

Training often involves new employees shadowing seasoned employees. After the initial training modules, yearly refresher training courses are required for all employees and when new policies or forms are created.

Responsibilities

Child Protective Services workers’ responsibilities can vary depending on their assignment. Common areas of our forensic investigations involve allegations that Child Protective Services workers failed to:

• Report suspected abuse or neglect to the appropriate investigating agency
• Visit children and placement agencies as mandated by their agency regulations
• Ensure children are receiving services as ordered by the court
• Monitor placement agencies and ensure they are compliant with licensing regulations
• Verify children attend medical and mental health appointments and maintain the records
• Document direct services provided
• Provide a placement that meets the needs of the child in their care
• Appropriately address suicidal or homicidal ideations of children and/or caregivers and/or other serious mental health issues
• Confirm caregivers are attending mental health and/or substance abuse treatment by obtaining their records from providers
• Obtain criminal background checks and child abuse clearances on adults providing care to or that have access to children in their home or out of home placements
• Perform and document safety assessments and individual care plans for children, as mandated

To prevent or minimize the harm to a child, it is imperative that agencies and their personnel know and follow the regulations that delineate their designated responsibilities and regularly communicate both internally and with external child and family service providers.

This continuity of care is important to ensure that a child’s needs are met, and the agency personnel are performing the tasks required of them.

Social Services Expert Investigations

Investigations conducted by our social workers analyze the above information including the training of the social workers based on the specific agency in which they are employed and the incident that occurred. This work often involves investigations involving a deviation of the standard of care in cases of child fatalities and near fatalities, physical abuse, sexual abuse, medical neglect or general neglect in the home environment or out-of-home placements.

For more information, submit an inquiry or call us at 800.813.6736.

Featured Expert

Abigail Rich, LCSW

Social Work Expert

Abigail Rich is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 20 years of post Masters experience. Abigail has experience as both a direct care Social Worker and Supervisor. She has worked in… read more.