Self-sabotage In Foster Care Placements

We like to think that we consistently act in our own best interests. But sometimes, for a variety of reasons, we find ourselves behaving in ways that interfere with our long-term goals. Human communication, including self-communication, is inherently imbued with the potential for misunderstanding, and therefore results may be second best or even detrimental. Self-sabotage affects people in politics, education, sports, science, business, and yes, human services. A positive foster care placement is one in which both the foster parents and child feel emotionally safe and connected. Though many foster parents strive to create such an environment, some children in foster care sabotage their placements. This article briefly looks at two aspects of this issue: First, how and why do children sabotage their own placements? Second, within normative legal parameters, how can human services staff address this?

Videotaping Child Sexual Abuse Investigation Interviews

This article investigates the extent to which departments of human services should be mandated by statute to videotape child sexual abuse investigative interviews. While numerous states instruct that videotaping may be done, most do so only by regulation or administrative directive.

Calculating Damages in Negligence Lawsuits against Departments of Human Services

[raw] Governments, be they city, county, state, tribal or federal, administer a wide range of social welfare services and have a duty to properly discharge those obligations. Professionals hired by government agencies, regardless of the tasks they do, are expected to exercise a reasonable degree of skill and care in their work. When a department of human services is legally negligent in delivering or overseeing those services, our tort system is designed in some cases to allow victims to make claims against it. Of course, negligence is a technical legal concept; not every failure or error made by a department worker will be negligent. There are ...

Emergency removal of a foster child – the foster parents’ rights

With 1,200 children entering foster care each day (Children’s Defense Fund, 2010, p. xv) 1 , it’s bound to happen—seemingly, the foster home and the foster child are just not a good match for each other. Let’s envision three scenarios: The foster parents notice that the foster child appears to have an unusual fascination with fire. The medical needs of the foster child are far more demanding than the foster parents feel they can handle. The foster parents think there may be sexual activity between the foster child and their biological children. In the above situations, if the foster parents request the emerge...

Penalties for Falsely Reporting Child Abuse

The Jerry Sandusky criminal trial is over; the civil lawsuits are in active settlement mode. Undoubtedly, the entire country is more tuned into child abuse than it ever was. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that about 105 bills on the reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect have been introduced in 2012 legislative sessions in 30 states and the District of Columbia. 1 All of them include a penalty for failing to report suspected child abuse. Oregon is one of the states which recently enacted child abuse reporting legislation. It added to the list of mandated reporters any employee or volunteer of organization providing ...

Child Abuse Investigations: have a healthy suspicion of multiple “unsubstantiated” findings

Following a child abuse/neglect investigation, a child protective services (CPS) investigator, usually in consultation with his or her supervisor, determines if the report should be substantiated or unsubstantiated. If the report is substantiated it means that the information gathered supports a finding of child abuse or neglect. If the report is unsubstantiated it means that the information gathered does not support a finding of child abuse or neglect. Each state has its own unique scheme governing the practical application of the term “unsubstantiated” or other similar term. The resultant legal sufficiency of this term is extraordinar...

Legal Immunity for CPS Workers who Lie?

The critics and plaintiffs’ attorneys are out there. They seethe with frustration in their assertion that there are child protection workers who are as dysfunctional and flawed as some of the abusive and neglectful parents they investigate. They feel mistreated, ambushed, without recourse to a neutral oversight authority, and fume that the courts will believe the word of child protection workers over their clients. And yet, when there is a credible allegation that a child protection worker has knowingly made misleading or false statements which resulted in the wrongful removal of a child, their criticism and anger seem justified. Such misrepres...