On March 8, 2012 I received the opportunity to visit Utah Division of Child and Family Services, DCFS, for my intro to social work class. DCFS has over five locations and their services are crucial in today’s society. From July of 2010 to July of 2011 DCFS helped over 56,496 people. Upon going I had the opportunity to learn about their purpose, the intake process, and some personal accounts Mr. Jenkins has had.
DCFS purpose is to ensure that “children, adults and families enjoy safety, permanency and well-being from their partnership with the community and Child and Family Services.” DCFS is a state- administered agency and is within the Department of Human Services. They administer services to children 0-18; these children have been either abused or neglected in one way or another. Their “mission” is help individuals live freely from abuse.
DCFS has what they call the intake process. This is how they decide whether or not they are going to look into a case. They do get a lot of calls but not all of the calls are legitimate, or have enough evidence to have something done about it. When this happens they record the call in “SAFE.” Every call ever made is recorded and kept just in case it is needed somewhere along the road. However if a case has potential and is legitimate the case is opened and assigned a child protective service worker, CPS.
CPS workers also have a timeframe of when they will respond to the call. They call this timeframe a “priority.” There are three different priorities. Priority 1 is when “immediate” protection is needed, causing a face-to-face meeting to happen within the next hour. Priority 2 is when the risk “of physical evidence” is lost and a face-to-face meeting is required within 24 hours. Finally, priority 3 is when there is a low risk to the child’s safety and face-to-face contact is required within 3 days by midnight. Depending on what priority it is, determines on how long the CPS worker will take to respond.
CPS workers than begin an investigation on the case. They interview family members, neighbors, the child, and other people who have direct information / knowledge of abuse or neglect. After enough information is abstracted, the case is assessed. If the child is considered safe, no services are necessary by DCFS. However the CPS worker may decide that the child needs in home based services. This is where the child who is at risk can remain in the home and have the services delivered to them and their family in the home. Or if there is immediate risk to a child or a warrant is assessed to get the child out of the home, a foster home can be prepared for the child.
Mr. Jenkins explained this throughout the presentation, but he also told of personal experiences he has had. Whether he was discussing individual cases where he has had to help remove children who were victims of Munchausen by proxy , or of times when he had to personally show up to people’s houses to investigate the environment the child was living in (cleanliness, etc.) He also explained how he assesses certain cases when a judge has asked him to retrieve more information about a court case.
By having Mr. Jenkins teach us about DCFS’ purpose, intake process, and personal experiences I learned a great deal more about child services. It was very sad to hear about some of the horrific things innocent children experience. Unfortunately these experiences children experience affects them psychologically and emotionally for the rest of their lives. But the hard work people put in, like DCFS, has a huge impact on helping children “live free from abuse” and neglect; ultimately changing the child’s entire life for the better.
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