What would a CPS social worker/investigator do in this situation?

LibraryMage

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One of my characters is a 14-year-old boy whose parents are reported to CPS after he's taken to a doctor's office with broken ribs and extensive bruising and refuses to say how it happened. When a CPS worker comes to the house to talk to him, the character shuts himself in his room and refuses to talk to them.

What would the CPS worker do in a situation like this? The kid is homeschooled, so trying to talk to him at school isn't an option.

Edited to add: the character also has rope burns on his wrists and bruising on his throat that indicates he was manually choked, which is what makes it pretty clear he was deliberately assaulted rather than being in an accident or a random fight
 
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jclarkdawe

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What's the pathology that's indicating this is an assault? What's the evidence indicating that the parents did this?

First off, the child would be sent to the hospital for x-rays for the broken ribs. Medical staff at the hospital would ask child and parents what happened, both together and separately. If no one is saying anything, police would probably be contacted. However, the most likely assault of a 14-year-old is peers or older teens. And in many cities, this would be gang related, and no one would be talking.

So why does anyone think the parents are involved? And why can't they talk to the kid at the hospital. He's going to be there for several hours with broken ribs.

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

lonestarlibrarian

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DH does a lot of work with CPS. I gave him the scenario.

"They're asking what CPS would do in a real-world situation?"

"Yes. They'd pretty much go away, wouldn't they?"

"Pretty much."

If the parents aren't cooperating, if the kid isn't cooperating, if no one's cooperating--- CPS is going to take their resources elsewhere, to where they can make better progress.
 

frimble3

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Who called in the CPS when it might well have been a fight at school?
Is it common for child-abuse to start in the teen years? I would have expected a pattern of doctor's visits, starting a lot earlier.
 

benbenberi

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Unless it's one of those recluse families where they keep the kids inside, homeschool, do a lot of abusive things over a long time, but no one ever goes to a doctor, & if people start taking notice they up sticks and move to a different state. Or sometimes they just stay put for years. They're such quiet people... they always keep their blinds down... we never even knew they had kids...
 

ironmikezero

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Even if suspicion warrants an initial report by the medical staff, no government sponsored/related entity will get further involved absent evidence of a crime/abuse. Even if the victim were to speak, any such complaints must be corroborated or refuted. Limited resources hamstring the usual agencies more than most folks realize--no solid evidence means no case, and no more resources justifiably expended.
 

MaeZe

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Child abuse is inconsistently addressed in the US, I've seen all the following:

Deaths do occur at the hands of the parents even when CPS is involved. They can't or don't do their job.

On the other side, CPS sometimes removes children from homes after false accusations.

Short staffing is a frequent issue and there are people who believe all sorts of satanic worship nonsense.

Then there are physicians who are reluctant to report child abuse. They are uncomfortable making an accusation against a parent.



It's almost certain a physician in a clinic would send this kid to the ED. Complications need to be ruled out. If you suspect fractured ribs you have to be certain there isn't a hemo or pneumothorax.

Most EDs experienced with child trauma would have on hand or call in an expert consultant to make a decision about whether this was abuse or a fight. One thing they would look at is evidence of past trauma.

If they decided the parents were involved they would send the kid to foster care until it was sorted out by a judge (usually only a couple days). If this was the parent's first encounter with CPS there would be a hearing and generally unless the kid didn't want to go home they would be sent home with monitoring, maybe weekly, maybe less often. There might be some anger management ordered by the court.

But it could be this kid had gotten in a fight and child abuse was not certain. They might be sent home and no CPS referral made. Or CPS might do a single home visit and report which is most often inadequate (again, my experience and not always the CPS worker's fault).
 
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MaeZe

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DH does a lot of work with CPS. I gave him the scenario.

"They're asking what CPS would do in a real-world situation?"

"Yes. They'd pretty much go away, wouldn't they?"

"Pretty much."

If the parents aren't cooperating, if the kid isn't cooperating, if no one's cooperating--- CPS is going to take their resources elsewhere, to where they can make better progress.

Who's DH?

This is a possible scenario but it is not the only one. States differ, doctors differ, the severity of the injuries and evidence of healed injuries matter.

The verbal report of the parents and/or the kid are not the only things a medical provider relies on. That would be like asking someone "who shot you?" then saying "oh well" if they wouldn't talk.

CPS doesn't decide who to see based on where they expect results. That makes no sense.

But not only that, CPS does not make their own assignments. Someone has to pay them. Someone has to grant authority for CPS to stick their nose in someone's house. CPS is a social services agency. Usually a court orders an intervention. The medical providers might make the referral if the parents agreed to accept the agency's help services. But if a court orders it, the parents cannot decline. CPS will show up at the house with a police officer.
 
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lonestarlibrarian

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DH is internet shorthand for "Dear Husband." A big chunk of his job is visiting/interviewing/watching out for the interests of ad litem kids, and he deals with CPS frequently within a 100-mile radius.

So, yes. The caveat is that CPS is always a local thing. We all answer these research questions through our own filters, and the OP gets to sift through and decide whether input from Texas works for NYC, or whatever.

The point I was trying to get at, and probably phrased poorly, is that CPS-in-my-part-of-the-world isn't here to play detective and ferret out the "why" of a mysterious situation that no one wants to talk about, when they have hundreds of other cases requiring their time and attention and they know "this kid is now blind for life because dad did x" or "the 3yo is testing positive for meth" or "this kid is 5yo and weighs 20 lbs".

With the OP's bullet points-- parents take kid to doctor, neither kid nor parents explain how the injuries occurred, CPS visits, kid is super-rude and shuts himself away-- in-my-part-of-the-world, CPS is not going to waste a whole lot more energy in getting to the bottom of what happened. Once an ad-litem kid (in my part of the world) is over the age of 10, they generally have opinions about how they want things to be, and they'll talk about what they want, especially in private, even though they may be silent in the presence of their parent. So if you have a 14yo who is acting in the manner described in the OP--- CPS isn't going to waste much more thought on a kid of that age if he's not going to do anything to encourage their involvement or assistance, and they're going to move on to other cases. If he was much, much, much younger--- then I agree the chances of them letting it slide so easily would be very remote. But an uncooperative 14yo? That's, like, a high school freshman, give or take a year.
 
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MaeZe

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Oh, I get it. You're right, they are supposed to evaluated the safety of the situation but they aren't detectives. They wouldn't decide on their own to drop a case would they?

Different agencies really vary. I've lived in four states and CPS has been incredibly inconsistent from county to county.
 

jclarkdawe

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Edited to add: the character also has rope burns on his wrists and bruising on his throat that indicates he was manually choked, which is what makes it pretty clear he was deliberately assaulted rather than being in an accident or a random fight

I hadn't noticed that LibraryMage added the above.

First off, the pathology is a bit unusual here. We've got broken ribs, presumably extensive bruising on his rib cage and chest, rope burns on wrist, and bruising on his throat. Assuming he was hit repeatedly while his hands were tied, we can come up with a good indication of where his hands were at the time. Manual choking (I'm assuming this means with one or both hands) is a bit unusual in a beating.

However, the manual choking represents the possibility of attempted murder. Broken ribs indicates a felony level assault and could also lead to a charge of attempted murder. Confinement can lead to a charge of kidnapping, another biggie.

CPS is not going to be involved until quite a ways down the process. Initially, in most police departments, one or two patrol officers will show up to conduct an initial interview with the boy and his parents. Department protocol will dictate whether the cops can talk to the kid without his parents (different protocol than if the child is a suspect of a crime).

If the kid isn't talking, with this level of serious injury, the patrol officer would call his or her boss. Good possibility a detective would be sent out. If the police are getting the vibe that the parents are involved, the police would probably ask the doctor to decide that it is medically necessary to hold the kid overnight.

For the police to arrest the parents, the police will need probable cause to assume that a crime has been committed (not an issue) and that the parents are probably involved. Advantage to the police of arresting the parents is protection of the kid. And unless this kid is showing signs of gang connections, with no explanation coming from the parents or kid, the parents or a sibling are the most likely answers.

So much of this is speculative. The cops know a serious crime has been committed. Kid and parents not talking is so unusual as to be almost bizarre, unless the parents did it. But understand that very few people don't talk to cops. Humans love to talk, even when we shouldn't. In this instance, however, everybody is going to be lying, and that is what cops hope for.

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

Roxxsmom

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Where and when did this happen in your story? If it's contemporary fiction, check out mandated reporting laws in the state the story takes place in. It seems possible that the kid might be temporarily removed from his home, at least, while the source of the injuries and/or his parents' inability to provide a safe environment was investigated. I have trouble believing there wouldn't be some manner of investigation.

In my state, if I noticed such injuries on a minor in my classroom (I teach at a college, and everyone under 18 at the start of a term is now flagged on my rosters), I'd be required to report it directly to cps or the police. There's a whole process where I'd be required to provide as much information as I could (including some I don't have, like the kid's address etc). Failure to do so could result in my own prosecution, as we have mandated reporting laws in CA. We're supposed to even report offhand comments by a minor that (say) they suggest feel unsafe at home. I would certainly be at risk of losing my job if it could be shown that the injuries were something a reasonable and prudent person should have noticed, and my job isn't even focused on the welfare of kids or identification and treatment of injuries, since nearly all of my students are adults and are clothed in class.

I doubt a nurse or doctor in CA (or other mandated reporting state) would fail to fill out the appropriate paperwork with these kinds of injuries, whether or not the kid refused to say how he got them. Even if they were lackadaisical or inclined to think the best of people, they could be criminally liable if the kid showed up in the ER again or died later.

Now what would happen when the injuries were reported, I can only guess. It's disheartening to hear that people further down the pipeline still might just shrug these things off. We've had a number of high profile cases in CA that have triggered stricter laws over the years, and the injuries described in the OP sound pretty serious and unlikely to be the result of a simple accident.

Even if it wasn't his parents who caused the injuries, they are responsible for his well being. They could be under scrutiny for failing to protect him from harm. Kids are sometimes removed from homes for being in unsafe situations, even if it's not exactly the parent's fault. I have some friends who got a visit from CPS and follow up when they had to take their son to the ER for a dog bite (he wasn't taken, but it was an awful situation for them).
 
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MadAlice

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So much depends on so many things. Sadly, I know of a case where a 15-year-old, while doing a lie detector test for something else, told counselors point-blank that his father pointed a gun at his face and played russian roulette, and it was reported to CPS...and they did...nothing. So that, along with all of the other answers here, I guess means that you can make the scenario fit your story. If you need overworked, too-busy/lazy/whatever CPS workers then use that. Or I guess if you need a more involved, young, I-can-change-the-world social worker, then you have that.
 

lonestarlibrarian

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I hadn't noticed that it had been updated for choking bruises and rope burns, either. Thanks for pointing that out. :)

So, I asked DH again about the process of how they determine what to follow, and what gets dismissed.

The process he outlined (in our part of Texas!) goes as such:

* You have a Concerned Individual who makes a call. There's a person who "makes an intake." They record it. The main center in Austin (in Texas-- obviously, a Michigan or a Delaware or a Florida CPS main office is going to be elsewhere) will send an email to the local CPS office whose territory covers that locale.
* That local CPS office sends out an investigator. They do an automatic check on the kids-- all of them-- and the home.
* In an ordinary situation, they might determine "there's no problem/felony to report." For example, the mom might be smoking marijuana (illegal in Texas) but is taking good care of her kids, but a neighbor gets upset with her and turns her in. She'll be told to go to drug ed classes, but her kids won't be taken away.
* If the investigator determines that there's a danger, they'll do an emergency removal and remove the kid.
* If the investigator determines that the kids would be better off elsewhere, but there's no immediate danger, they'll take the path of a non-emergency removal.
* If there's an emergency removal, the kids are taken from the house.
* If they recommend a non-emergency removal, then the decision will be made by a judge at a hearing within 14 days of the original visit.
* The investigator has 30 days to complete their investigation, and then turn it over to Services.
* If the kids were removed, after that, the parents are given a safety plan within 45 days, which spells out what they need to do to get their kids back.

Now, if the investigator calls and says, "Excuse me, I'm coming over," and the parents say, "No, you're not," then the investigator will try getting in by talking.

If the parents refuse to allow access, they'll go to the sheriff.

If they refuse the sheriff, they'll go to court for a hearing. "Based on such-and-such, we want the kid(s), and we recommend an emergency removal."

And then the judge will probably grant the emergency removal, and will let things sort themselves out from there.
 

MadAlice

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^Some places don't even do that much. I don't want to give a location on the case I was talking about earlier, but a call was made to check on the same kid I spoke of(for legitimate reasons), and they actually managed to send someone to the house. The father (who later pointed a gun at his kid with no repercussions) said "Oh he's at the grocery with his stepmother," didn't let anyone in the house, and the CPS worker left and closed the case. Some jurisdictions will do more and some will do less.
 

rosehips

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All I can add to this is that I used to be a teacher, and I once overheard a 15 or 16 year old student tell another student that his dad had knocked him out with a wine bottle a few nights before. I called CPS to report it, and they chewed me out for wasting their time. I knew the kid's name, I knew the address, I knew all of the relevant information, and I am still incensed that that was their response. I get that it is something that varies and I likely just had a bad experience with a particularly bad CPS worker, but ffs.

It's not the only bad experience I had with CPS as a teacher, I should add. The fact that they are overworked no doubt plays a huge role. But as a high school teacher in California and then middle school teacher in Hawaii for a combined total of 12 years, I can tell you that I *never* saw them do *anything* about the reports I made. I probably made a minimum of 2 reports a year, and in some years many more due to the populations I was working with at the time.

Needless to say, I vote "CPS leaves and closes the case."