Child Welfare System: Reporting and Identification Flashcards
Why do we include reporting on the topic of prevention and intervention?
Reporting, investigation, and identification of children and families who need support is the first step
What are the requirements of mandated reporters?
Required to report suspected maltreatment when, in their professional capacity, they are presented with reasonable cause to suspect maltreatment
What are the professions where you are a mandated reporter?
- Physician, Dentist, Resident, Intern, Nurse
- Social worker, therapist, psychologist
- Teacher, principal, school counselor, daycare provider
Police officer
Who can make a report?
Anyone can make a report
- You are protected under “good faith” law
- Alerting professionals to possible concern
- You do not need proof
- Can remain anonymous
When would you make a report?
- When a victim is under 18 years old
- When there’s “Reasonable suspicion” of abuse or neglect but if one does not report, must be convinced without a doubt, and document process
Example situations
- Teacher notices bruises, change in child’s behavior
- Service provider witnesses conditions in home
- Neighbor sees children left home alone
- Child tells therapist about situation
What is the process of a report?
- Immediate verbal report
Call to CPS (e.g., 24-hour hotline) - Worker will guide through a series of questions
Example: - Describe suspicion, available information
- Information about family, adults in home
- Contact information (for reporter, and family)
- Follow up with a written report, documentation
Should we involve caregivers in the reporting process?
- Conflicting views about whether to involve caregiver in reporting process
How would we involve the caregiver in the reporting process?
- You can prepare them for the call to CPS so it can be a collaborative process
What are the roles of CPS?
- Receive reports of child abuse and neglect
- Conduct assessments and investigations (sometimes in collaboration with law enforcement)
- Evaluate safety and risk of the child
- Assess family strengths, needs, resources
- Develop case plan
- Coordinate services
What key decisions have to be made after a report is made?
CPS workers have to decide if the information they received meets guidelines for child maltreatment
They must also decide the urgency in which the agency responds
Based on this information CPS workers determines how to proceed
What percentage of reports are investigated?
33% of reports are investigated
What are some investigation questions?
- Did maltreatment occur? If so, who was responsible?
- Does the evidence meet requirements of the law?
- What are the weaknesses of the evidence?
- What must be done to protect the child?
- Do we have to remove them from the current environment?
Who does the investigations?
Primarily CPS workers but sometimes law enforcement
What are CPS works assessing during an investigation?
- Interviews with child and siblings, parents, family
- Medical information/records
Safety assessment to examine:
- Factors that suggest potential of serious harm to child
- Factors that indicate family has protective capacities
- Factors that indicate child vulnerability
What are some challenges with interviewing children?
- Developmental challenges - difficulty with understanding questions
- Reluctance to discuss because of: 1. fear of consequence 2. shame, embarrassment, self-blame 3. lack of trust
- Suggestibility - are children accurate reporters?
What are the types of research about child interviewing?
- Field studies of child witnesses
- Laboratory analogue studies of recall/memory
- Empirically developed protocols for interviewing
What is the recommendation for interviews with children?
- Doing a phased approach
What is the first phase in the phased approach?
Preparation
- Introductions, rapport-building, promise to tell the truth, narrative practice, instructions
What is the second phase in the phase approach?
Information-gathering
- Free recall with open-ended follow-up questions, close-ended questions for clarification
What is the third phase in the phase approach?
Closure
- Child can ask questions, resolve any distress
What is the recommendation for the setting in an interview with a child?
- Age-appropriate, private, child-friendly setting
- Minimal distractions
- Generally without parent
What is the recommendation for the interviewers demeanor during an interview?
- Supportive, yet non-suggestive
- Eye contact, relaxed posture, warm tone
What is the recommendation for reluctant children during rapport-building in an interview?
- Avoid pressuring reluctant children
- Too much pressure may result in inaccurate reporting, desire to please, inconsistency in reports
- If they get the sense that you’re looking for one answer they may just say something to please you
What are the recommendations for suggestibility in an interview?
- Coercive interview techniques can produce false allegations
- Avoid selective reinforcement (e.g., rewarding desired responses), use of authority, and use of repetitive suggestive questions (e.g., “Are you sure….?”)
Are you sure? can make them question their responses
What are some additional techniques during an interview?
- Narrative practice
- Open-ended questions vs. close-ended
- Understandable phrasing
- Permission to say “I don’t know” or “I don’t understand”
- Warning children about misleading questions
- Telling children that you don’t know what happened
- Eliciting a promise to tell the truth
What is the outcome of an investigation?
It can either be substantiated or unsubstantiated
What is a unsubstantiated outcome?
When evidence is unfounded, not indicated
- Not able to document evidence of maltreatment, child may deny/refuse, lack of evidence of injury, determination that adequate care is provided
- Case closed; May still receive voluntary services
What is a substantiated outcome?
When evidence is founded and indicated
- Services related to family preservation
- Services related to protection, out of home placement
Can the system get it wrong?
YES
