Review of the Child Protective Services Investigation Process Essay

In the beginning of 2004, the tragic death of a young boy in San Antonio, TX raised concerns about Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDPRS) procedures relating to the probe of the baby protective services ( hertz) process, including responding to tele telephone reports and assessing the risk of contumely accurately. TDPRS is watercoursely under investigation legitimate by the Governor, Rick Perry. The Governor call forthd, there is enough evidence from various parts of the state to paint a picture that some of our most vulnerable children ar not receiving the protection they need from abusive situations. The evidence leads me to intrust we have a corpseic breakdown in the safety net that must protect mistreat children (www.governor.state.tx.us July 1, 2004).This paper examines current procedures in the investigation process and provides recommendations for improvement related to several of the details and character of the operations process. Reinven ting government initiatives draw heavily on supply chain counseling, total lumber steering, problem process reengineering, and just-in-time delivery concepts that fall under the Operations Management umbrella.(Chase, 2003). Because this review is narrowly focused on the wheel investigation process, there atomic moment 18 several essential elements of child welfare services that are not addressed in this paper, including substitute care and permanency services.OVERVIEW OF FUNCTIONAL AREASThe boilers suit goal of cps is to protect the unprotected children from scream and neglect. This report focuses on specific CPS functions and crosscutting themes. These functions are those that comprise the child protection response to allegations of ill-usage and neglect. Operational definitions described in this report intromit* Screening and inhalation the process by which CPS receives a referral and a report concerning allegations of child abuse or neglect, and decides whether or not to respond to the referral and report.* Investigation the process by which CPS determines whether child mal interference has occurred or if a child is at risk of maltreatment, and the decisions and actions that are needed to ensure the childs safety.* Other CPS Response and Alternative Response a response to an allegation of abuse or neglect that assesses the ineluctably of the child or family with or without requiring a determination that maltreatment has occurred or that the child is at risk of maltreatment for the purpose of providing the family with services.For each function, there are several divers(prenominal) features. The workflow of these functions is described in Table 1.SCREENING AND INTAKEReceiving community referrals, which includes those from mandated professional reporters and the population at large, is the gateway to CPS. Features of the intake procedures include the availability to receive reports, methods for documenting reports, and timeframes for accep ting and forwarding a report. Intake is available 24-hours a day 7 days a week, and centralized in Austin, TX. Referred reports are generally categorized into two groups.In the first off group, CPS caseworkers are dispatched immediately for children believed to be in imminent risk of harm. In the second group, investigations are usually initiated inwardly 10 days. The policies indicate that a decision protocol for forwarding cases for investigation. The hotline workers conduct character assurance (QA) reviews on each case and decision to forward a case to investigation is make with supervisor approval. In case of sexual abuse and serious abuse, the case must be notified to right enforcement.INVESTIGATIONThe investigation function addresses the process of determining whether a child has been step or is probably to be maltreated, and if services are needed to ensure the child allow for not be harmed in the future. TDPRS implemented the use of risk and safety assessment (IRA) as tools to guide decision-making as to when and how to intervene to wield children safe in the immediate future and to reduce long-term risk. The result of IRA was included at case closure, during case envisionning at any major decision point, or whenever circumstances kindle a childs safety is at risk. Investigators usually check if the childs family has had a prior validated report of abuse or neglect. Investigators then visit and interview the family, including initiating face-to-face fall into place with the children, and begin collecting information about the aver maltreatment incident.If an investigator, during the initial investigation, believes that a child has been maltreated and inevitably the court to protect the childs safety, the investigator must initiate judicial heed of the case, which can be time-consuming and complicated. While the investigator is following the procedures involved in investigating the alleged maltreatment, he or she is also developing a tenta tive plan to address those conditions in the habitation that CPS believes contributed to the maltreatment of the child. This plan ultimately becomes the case plan that outlines treatment services for the child and the family. The plan described what actions are required of all the parties involved to correct the condition that caused the maltreatment.OTHER CPS solution AND ALTERNATIVE RESPONSEThe overall goals of alternative response are to provide a response survival to those families whose situations did not meet the mandate or criteria for CPS involvement, to serve low-risk or low-severity situations, or to improve family situations. This is to evince partnering the families with the community and creating a network for the family, protect children and assist parents to recognize and remedy conditions harmful to their children, provide onus services before the need of CPS involvement is required, and prevent the family from potentially being re-referred. The causes of child abuse and neglect are compound, and a case plan can involve referrals to an array of individuals, including caseworkers from other units in the agency, private service providers such(prenominal) as psychical health and counseling professionals, other public agencies such as housing and transportation services.CURRENT WORKFLOWDocumenting business process flows visually not wholly helps in ISO and QS initiatives, but it is the first step toward continuous improvement. (Gould, L. 2000) A good way to start analyzing a process is with a diagram showing the basic elements of a process (Chase, 2003) Table 1 describes the overview of current workflow from the time the report of maltreatment was reported to CPS until the completion of the investigation.Table 1 primal PROBLEMSBecause child protection is a searing service and because of the seriousness consequences of errors, CPS must seek to image the quality, timeliness, and accuracy of the process both through detailed specifications ( laws, regulations, and policy) and thorough supervisory oversight. However, the process must be balanced with systems that give workers and supervisors sufficient flexibility to apply sound professional judgment. Increases in the number of maltreatment cases, the changing nature of family problems, and long-standing systemic weaknesses have placed the CPS system in a state of crisis and undermined its ability to fully carry out the responsibilities for abused and neglected children.First, child maltreatment reports have rise steadily across the state. The caseloads of CPS have grown correspondingly, and CPS cannot keep pace with this workload. Second, these caseloads are progressively composed of families whose problems have grown more troubling and complicated, with substance abuse a common and permeating condition. Finally, systemic weaknesses, such as difficulty maintaining professional and skilled workforce, inconsistently implementing policies and procedures, and poor working relationships with exterior resources has created a long-standing problems. The combined effect of difficult caseloads and systemic weaknesses may endanger the lives of children glide slope to the attention of CPS.In CPS, the module sometimes deal with life-and-death issues, the knowledge of and consistent application of appropriate policies and procedures are critical. However, CPS staff is unable to consistently apply existing policies such as inadequate safety assessment. This is because policies sort frequently, no procedures manual exists, and information is inconsistently distributed to all staff.By necessity, CPS should work efficiently and in effect with outside resources to protect children. However, the outside resources, like CPS, also face problems associated with the large volume of increasingly complex cases, budget cuts, and Medicaid reform. Unnecessary time spent to transfer or refer cases diverts the investigator from performing investigative activities on oth er open cases and create congestion in workflow.COMPARE AND CONTRAST WITH OTHER dedicateIn 1994, Missouri developed a new strategy to handle the overwhelming number of reports coming into its CPS system. Missouri recognized that state government, acting alone, had neither the resources nor the local community, neighborhood, or family base to efficaciously alter the cycle of abuse and neglect. The agency and local CPS offices have turned to the broader community of churches, schools, mental health providers, and others to expand their reach.By developing partnerships with these community groups, CPS is able to quickly increase the number of people available to serve children and their families, without increasing CPS staffing levels. The model in this state is also found on the premise that not all CPS cases require the same traditional approach. Instead, the models incorporate a flexible response, whereby CPS cases can be grouped according to the nature of the allegation, recogni zing that different types of allegations required different responses.RECOMMENDATIONSBuild Community PartnershipDifferent types of maltreatment require dramatically different prevention and treatment strategies. It is critical for CPS to form partnerships between CPS and community service providers. This will allow the cases to be referred and transferred more smoothly and in a timely manner. However, ultimate success will depend on the CPS staffs ability to overcome certain challenges, such as developing willingness within the community to become more active in protecting children from maltreatment and to adapt to new roles and responsibilities. complicate the Key Performance RequirementKey Performance RequirementsHow to Achieve These RequirementsReport Receipt(Intake)* Community consciousness of when and how to report* Minimal wait to reach the intake workers* Effective use of the CAPS (agency computer system)* Enhanced phone system that provide real time information, manage call distribution to available workers, and support inclination of staffing requirementsScreening* Immediate response to high risk situations* Reasonable timeliness of decisions on other situations* dependable screening decisions* Screening guidelines that provide consistent direction* Immediate access to germane(predicate) information system* Real-time consultation from experienced supervisors assessment(Investigation)* Sufficient thoroughness reasonable and prudent efforts made to obtain relevant information* Timeliness of decisions* Decisions consistent with information and with policy* Assessment guidelines that provide consistent direction* Assessment timeliness requirements that balance thorough information gathering with responsiveness* Reasonable caseloads and adequate number of staff* Accessible consultation from experienced supervisorsManagement Reporting* Information that enables management to make sound judgments regarding overall performance and other matters, such as st affing requirements* Information that enables supervisors to manage caseloads and monitor quality and timeliness* utilization of the information to identify targeted improvements where needed* Real-time information about on-going cases* Reports on both the detailed (by worker) and abbreviation (by unit) level on caseloads and case status (pending, deadlines, overdue, etc.)* Reports of quality assurance findings* Designation of specific performance measures that will be tracked and monitored with comparisons across local offices* Management reports on overall program performance including workload, timeliness, quality assurance results, investigation outcomes, list of outside resources, etc.CONCLUSIONTDPRS is facing increased reports of child abuse and neglect, as well as a disturbing increase in the number of families with severe and ten-fold problems. The burden to improve the ways CPS responds to children at risk of abuse and neglect falls on state and local governments. When a process is operating at capacity, the only way to take on more work without increasing the waiting time is add more capacity (Chase, 2003) CPS management must recognize that the traditional approaches to child protection cannot keep pace with the demand for services.CPS needs to reach out to communities to establish partnerships among service providers, as well as our citizens. Furthermore, the CPS management team up must look at the entire workflow of the operations process and recognize long-standing systemic problems. It is critical to seek ways to correct deficiencies and to build and maintain the personnel that will support the operations management strategies.REFERENCESChase, R. (2003). Product design and process selection. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, Tenth Edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies.Chase, R. (2003). Operations strategy and management change. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, Tenth Edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies.www. tdprs.sta te.tx.uswww.governor.state.tx.usGould, L. (2004) Designing a better business. Gardner Publications, Inc. Retrieved from www.autofieldguid.com on 8/23/04McDonald W. (2001). National study of child protective services systems and reform efforts Literature review. Retrieved from www.aspe.hhs.gov.hsp/protective01/on 8/22/04.http//www.gao.gov/archive/1997/he97115.pdf