The Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act (CAPTA), one of the oldest federal laws on the books specific to Child Protective Services (CPS), was passed in 1974. Its purpose was to provide a framework for CPS for states to follow, including required funding, structure and programs. It’s been amended numerous times since it was initially passed, with the most recent amendment made in 2018. As CPS only started to become the responsibility of states in the 1960s as the private local societies for prevention of cruelty to children started to close across the country over a period of about two decades (CPS was the responsibility of the government in every state by the 1980s), the Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act played a major role in laying the framework for CPS as we know it today. While its stated intention is to prevent child abuse and neglect, the statistics on CPS, foster care and the countless remedial (Juvenile and Family) court horror stories paint a very different picture.

The Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act set forth a number of requirements for all states to follow. These include:

  • Establishing a central child abuse and neglect hotline to accept reports.
  • Investigating reports of child abuse and neglect.
  • Providing services to families to prevent child abuse and neglect.
  • Providing foster care and adoption services for children who have been abused or neglected.
  • Establishing laws and procedures for reporting and responding to allegations of child abuse and neglect.
  • Establishing laws and procedures for the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect.
  • Establishing laws and procedures for the protection of children in foster care and adoptive placements.
  • Establishing laws and procedures for the prevention, identification and treatment of child abuse and neglect.
  • Establishing laws and procedures for training of professionals who work with children and families, such as child welfare workers, law enforcement officers, school and other childcare staff and health care providers.

The Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act’s broad scope with very little specificity is the primary reason why CPS laws, policies and terminology are not standardized across states. The requirements it outlines have very little specificity and it is left to the states to establish law and policy as they see fit to carry out those requirements. This can mean inconsistent terminology, distribution of responsibility, standards of evidence and more across states.

In one state, a case that found evidence meeting the standard might be referred to as substantiated, while in another it might be referred to as indicated. One state may have a single central hotline, while another may have hotlines at the county level. One may use the reasonable cause standard for removal, while another will use immediate or impending danger of serious harm as the standard for removal. One may require a Guardian Ad Litem and a Court-Appointed Special Advocate in cases that go to court, while another may only require one be appointed. Some states have a Differential Response in place, but refer to the same tracks by different names. While most states use the fair preponderance of the evidence standard for CPS, some use other standards, such as the some credible evidence standard.

Altogether, this creates substantial confusion among families trying to find information and advice on CPS that applies to them. We often see this result in infighting in social media groups over who has the right advice. For someone enduring CPS involvement, this is often confusing and distressing, but with few places to turn, they do their best with the information they do have- sometimes to their benefit, sometimes to their detriment. What may be good advice in one state is not necessarily good advice in another and in some cases, could be bad advice. Regardless of intention, when advice is taken that is bad in the state in which it is used, the consequences can be profound. When CPS gets involved, what’s at stake is the family unit, which can carry high value in society.

While the Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act set out to address a virtuous issue- that of keeping children safe from child abuse and neglect, the efficacy of CPS today as a government entity demonstrates it has done anything but address it. CAPTA created the framework for a system that it is inconsistent in its implementation and maintains an assumption of perfection with little in the way of checks and balances to ensure its integrity. This is why the remedial courts so easily take CPS at face value. The child welfare system envisioned by the Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act is a system without flaw; that is not the system in place today. The longer a case goes on, the harder it is to come out of it with your family intact. This is why we at Heartwork Defense so strongly emphasize it as a necessity to learn and prepare for the mere possibility of any CPS involvement before it happens and if not, to learn very quickly. When more than 1 in 3 children in the United States experiences a CPS investigation prior to turning 18 years old, it’s not that much of a stretch anymore.

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