The Need for Child Protective Services Reform in the United States

Litigation is Our Only Hope for True Child Protective and Child Welfare Reform

Child Protective Services took my child in October 2004 based on false allegations. I had to fight to get her back and finally did, but not before Child Protective Services had caused great harm to my child and my family.

While there have been attempts at child protective reform in recent years, there has not been any meaningful child protective reform in the United States, but there needs to be. One of the biggest problems with Child Protective Services (CPS) is that child protective caseworkers spend too much time investigating false allegations and therefore are unable to investigate real cases of neglect and abuse. So we have the anomaly of innocent parents rotting in prison, while children still die from abuse.

The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta claims that there are three million child abuse reports made every year. Two million of those reports are without merit. What has created this situation?

Mandated reporting is the primary culprit. Doctors, nurses, teachers, psychiatrists and numerous other professions are required by law to report any suspicions of child abuse and neglect. If they don't, they can be charged with a felony and go to jail. So to protect themselves, mandated reporters report things that they wouldn't report if the threat of jail wasn't hanging over their heads.

We need to get rid of mandated reporting. We need to trust doctors, nurses and teachers to make the right decision when they suspect abuse and neglect. This would cut down on the number of baseless child abuse reports and give Child Protective Services the time and money to concentrate on real abuse.