Computer tool is no substitute for good caseworkers
Our view: New assessment program may be good, but won't make up for lack
of CPS workers
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.07.2007
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/186421
Child Protective Services has started using a new assessment tool to
keep track of child-abuse and -neglect cases, a method the department
claims will help workers better serve children in dangerous home situations.
The new tool was in the works before two Tucson children were killed and
another is presumed dead, all allegedly at the hands of their parents.
Any change CPS makes comes under the microscope of public and
legislative scrutiny, as it should.
Details of the short lives and deaths of Ariana Payne and Brandon
Williams, and the presumed death of Tyler Payne, have been reported
before. It's important to remember these children were real human beings
who were abused — and allegedly murdered — by the people who were
supposed to love and nurture them. And then these children, all of whom
CPS workers knew about and one of whom had contact with a sheriff's
officer days before his death, were let down by a system that was
supposed to protect them.
The body of Ariana, 4, was found stuffed in a plastic tub in a storage
unit in February. An autopsy showed Ariana suffered broken ribs, a
broken right shoulder and a fractured vertebrae before her death. Her
5-year-old brother, Tyler, is presumed dead but his body hasn't been
found. Their father, Christopher Payne, is charged with their murders
and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. His girlfriend, Reina
Gonzales, has been indicted by a grand jury on two counts each of
first-degree murder and child abuse.
Brandon Williams, a 5-year-old boy with autism, died in March of
blunt-force trauma to his head. He also showed evidence of contusions
and abrasions to his head, chest and abdomen and retinal hemorrhages,
according to the autopsy report. Large amounts of acetaminophen and
antihistamine were found in the boy's system, drugs usually found in
cold medicine — something officials said his mother, Diane Marsh, had
given him to keep him quiet.
Paramedics also found evidence that Brandon had been tied up by his
wrists and ankles and that his feet were severely burned from being
placed in scalding water, steps Marsh told authorities she took after
Brandon misbehaved.
The horror speaks for itself.
So it's right that CPS makes changes to better protect children.
The CPS tool is supposed to help caseworkers keep track of what has been
done and what needs to be done.
"Sometimes staff forgets that they should see every child or every
caregiver in the home," CPS state policy manager Linda Johnson told the
Star.
If CPS workers are forgetting that they need to do complete
investigations of reports of child abuse or neglect, the problems within
the department are so enormous that no computer program can touch them.
But, according to CPS spokeswoman Liz Barker Alvarez, this does happen,
especially with new workers. As of December, the average caseworker was
handling 15 investigations, 27 cases in which intact families were
receiving services, and 23 cases in which children had been placed in
out-of-home care. This is an overwhelming workload by any measure.
Alvarez described the new assessment as making a good tool even better,
but could not say how effective the previous assessment — the one used
in the cases of Ariana, Tyler and Brandon — has been.
One of the scariest parts of CPS work is there's no real way to know if
a particular assessment or intervention program is effective until cases
are resolved one way or another. In other words, there's no real way to
measure success until the decisions on how to handle allegations of
child abuse or neglect have already been made — and a mistake means more
abuse or neglect of a child.
Because success in CPS cases relies on the behavior of people, including
many with drug- or alcohol-abuse problems, there are no guarantees. In
2005, for example, 20 percent of children who were reunited with their
families ended up back in foster care within one year.
The new assessment may help CPS workers keep kids safe, and we hope it
does. But a new computer program doesn't begin to cover all of the needs
the agency faces in its mission to protect Arizona children.
The Legislature must step up and add — and adequately pay — more
caseworkers to investigate the roughly 35,000 reports of child abuse and
neglect that come into CPS each year. No computer assessment program, no
matter how well-designed, can make up for too few caseworkers looking
out for Arizona children.
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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