Child Protective Services (CPS) investigates allegations of child abuse and neglect, but how does that happen? There are a lot of steps that go into investigating child abuse and neglect.
First, the intake phase of involvement is triggered by a call to a child abuse hotline to make a report of child abuse or neglect. These are either state hotlines, usually toll-free, or local county reporting numbers in some states. There is also a national hotline that can forward calls or reports to their local jurisdictions. Some types of reports in some states may also be submitted online. These are non-emergency reports and may be limited to certain hours or to mandated reporters only. This report will typically include the allegations, information on the child alleged to be abused or neglected, their location, the alleged perpetrator, household composition, collateral supports the child may have, other people or providers involved and anyone else aware of the alleged child abuse or neglect. With the exception of mandated reporters, all reporters may choose whether or not to disclose their identity (if mandated reporters are confronted over whether they fulfilled the mandate and they reported anonymously, they may not be able to prove their actions and could be subjected to consequences for failure to report). While CPS strongly encourages all reporters to disclose their identities to the hotline, a minority of reporters do not.
Once all information has been gathered, it is evaluated for acceptance or rejection. If the report is rejected, the case ends here and the intake is closed. If accepted, the intake phase ends and the investigation phase of the case begins. Reasons a report is rejected may be: the alleged perpetrator may not be a person legally responsible, the behavior alleged may not be CPS’ jurisdiction and may require a referral to law enforcement instead or there may not be enough information provided to conduct an investigation. While it varies year to year, more than half of all reports received are accepted for investigation.
If the report is accepted, it will be assigned a priority based on the allegations and forwarded to the local Child Protective Services office. Once received by the local office, it will be assigned to a CPS investigator, who will review the report, typically confer with his or her supervisor and contact the source of the report with any questions before heading to the case address to start the investigation. If this source is anonymous, there will be no contact with the source, as there’s no information on who the source is or any way to contact them. This may be on the same day the report is received or several days later, depending on the priority assigned and the policies of the state or municipal Child Protective Service.
The CPS investigator will typically talk to one or two neighbors, asking about any safety concerns they have for children in the area and then visit your home. This is typically before knocking at your door, rather than after, as you may be unaware of their presence prior to them knocking on your door and therefore, less likely to observe these interactions. For traditional response investigations, the initial visit is almost always unannounced. They will talk with everyone in the home, gather information on the allegations, parenting practices and more.
Depending on the age of the children, sensitivity of the case and what they find, they will conduct follow-up visits, which could be as frequently as multiple times in a week, but usually bi-weekly at minimum. Households with children under the age of five years are typically visited more frequently than those with only older children. These visits are much shorter than the initial visit and may be scheduled in advance or unannounced. Some CPS investigators will alternate and schedule every other visit. This is to make sure you can’t prep your child(ren) or make your home look extra special just for CPS if it’s messy and cluttered all the time. Typically, if a child is to be removed, it will be decided within the first two weeks of investigation (usually sooner). Sometimes, a removal is done at the initial visit. This is typically done when CPS can argue the child is in impending danger on the information provided in the report alone and jumps the gun or such a concern is identified at that initial visit. While a removal can also occur later in involvement, it is more difficult for CPS to get a later removal to stick in court.
CPS will do their own background work during this time, as well, checking up on vaccination records, medical records (if consent is given), criminal background checks including criminal convictions and domestic incident reports, speaking with the child(ren)’s school (if of school age) and follow up with collateral contacts (if provided). Traffic violations are not typically collected. During this time, CPS will also conduct safety and risk assessments based on the information collected. In addition, if there are any medical, mental health, substance abuse or domestic violence concerns identified by CPS in medical records, at a home visit or otherwise, they are likely to also speak with a specialized case consultant about the concern(s). If there are multiple separate concerns, they may speak with multiple specialized case consultants as deemed necessary. This background work is completed- even if the child(ren) have already been removed. If your child(ren) have been removed, once this is completed, the case will be transferred to a foster care case manager (who may be employed by a contractor of CPS or employed by CPS directly).
Depending on the state, investigations can last a maximum of 30-90 days before all data must be gathered and a determination must be made. Once the determination is made, the investigation stage is closed. If the allegation(s) are unsubstantiated and you do not have any CPS-contracted services in place, CPS’s involvement will end here. If the allegation(s) are substantiated, it will be searchable in in child abuse/neglect background checks for a certain amount of time (usually until 10 years after the youngest child listed in the case turns 18 years old, but can vary by state) and sealed thereafter. If a case is unsubstantiated, it will be sealed and retained for a shorter amount of time and eventually destroyed if no other CPS involvement occurs. If another case is opened before it is destroyed, the case may be reviewed again.
However, if you have prevention services or are in court, a child welfare services phase will commence for the case and the investigation phase will be closed, as CPS or a CPS contractor is still involved and documentation of progress is required. This phase will remain open until CPS’ involvement (including CPS-contracted prevention services agency involvement) is complete. Just because the case remains open does not mean the investigation is ongoing. However, during this time, if a subsequent report is made, another investigation phase may be opened alongside this child welfare services stage under the same case. CPS involvement is considered over once the safety concern(s) are considered resolved, court involvement is complete and any CPS-contracted services cease. This can be after a successful reunification or a Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) order is sustained. Once CPS’ involvement is over, all remaining open phases, including the child welfare services phase, will be closed. Once all phases are closed, the case is closed, too.