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Once substantiation has occurred and the family has been unable to correct the problem leading to the maltreatment, then a family will continue to receive child protective services. This is referred to as CPS Treatment.
Goals of Child Protective Services
- Ensure the safety of the child
- Reduce the risk of the abuse or neglect recurring
- Enable children to remain safely in their own homes
- Sustain positive changes that occur in a family and maintain the safety of children over time
The What, When, How and Where of Child Protective Services Treatment
- The family and the social worker participate in identifying the problems
and creating a plan with specific activities to correct the problems.
This is called a Family Services Case Plan. This plan is reviewed and
updated at least every three months.
- The social worker will have direct contact with all family members
regularly, sometimes about twice a month, but often more frequently
than that. The frequency may vary depending on the family’s needs and
the level of risk to the child.
- The social worker provides case managementservices to the family.
This involves referring children and families to a variety of Resources
for Catawba County families. Case management also involves assuring
that families can access services, monitoring and assessing to determine
the effectiveness of these services.
- Most of the services through DSS are provided either in the home or
community. Home visits can be made in the early evening so that work
and school schedules are not interrupted.
- A family usually receives services for six months to a year. Length
of service depends on how quickly the problem leading to the maltreatment
of the child can be corrected and the risk to the child reduced.
- If a family is unable to correct the problem that led to the maltreatment
and the child remains at risk or DSS is unable to ensure the safety
of the child in the home, then the agency will file a petition with the court.
- When a petition is filed, the agency must demonstrate to the
court the reasonable efforts that have been made to ensure the child’s
safety at home.
- The court may decide to place the child in DSS custody and in foster
care or may decide to leave the child at home and order the parents
to follow the Family Services Case Plan.
- It is necessary to file a petition in less than 20% of the situations
in which we are providing CPS services.
Back to Child Protective Services
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