PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
by
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A CASE STUDY
“All I wanted was for our family
to be fixed and put back together again. If I had known this would happen, I
never would have said anything”. These words were spoken by a sixteen year old
young man who felt his father needed counseling to put his mind back on the
right track. He understood he and his sister would be removed from the home and
eventually reunited with their parents. What he learned was no one wanted to
listen to him and decisions regarding him and his sister would be made without
their input. He and his sister were shipped some 1000 miles away from their
home to live with “relatives” in another state.
When I contacted him he had
already figured out their family would not be reunited in spite of his father’s
counselor reporting to the court that the father and mother were ready for
reunification after having completed one year of counseling. The counselor was
in private practice and for some reason his recommendation was not accepted by
CPS and the AG. Although the case had been in the Juvenile Court for one year,
the young man told me he had not even heard he had an attorney and no attorney
had contacted him. Neither had he been contacted by any Social Worker. I was
the first one. He felt he and his sister had been victimized by the system. The
young man was on his high school football team and both of the children were
attaining good grades. He and his sister loved their father and mother and felt
no fear of harm from either of them. The young man was remarkable in that he
had a better understanding of the problem facing his family than all the
“professionals” put together.
A CASE STUDY
My involvement with the family
originally centered around the mother’s two elementary school-aged daughters. At
that time the state CPS had written off the town of
As the tribe could take
jurisdiction from state CPS, I was phoned on a Friday afternoon by the CPS
Worker that she would have to return the children on Monday morning if I did
not take custody of them on Monday. When I met the girls, the older pretended
she did not understand English. She pointed to a soda machine and I gave her a
fifty cent piece to put in the machine. She soon returned and blew her cover by
asking if I had two quarters. As with the school teacher and CPS Worker, I was
sucked in and I began a journey that helped form the basic reason for writing
this book.
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About the Book
Currently the federal government
is reviewing state CPS services to families and children to consider if
children are protected from abuse and neglect and if their educational,
developmental, physical and mental health needs are met. To date 45 out of 45 states have failed the
test. This book explains how and why the
systems designed to protect children are failing. It shows why the systems need to be changed
from top to bottom. How the
“professionals” connected with CPS cases conspire to deny children a voice in
their future. The answers are found in
this book and go beyond CPS. It is time
to fix the system and protect children from Child Protective Services.
About the Author
Mr. Schwartz was on his way to
becoming a high school teacher and counselor, when he accepted a counselor and
team leader position in President Lyndon Johnson’s MODEL CITIES PROGRAM, which
was an effort to improve the disadvantaged residents and neighborhoods of
certain selected cities. The three year
program was expanded to five years and Mr. Schwartz was awarded a Citizen of
the Year commendation by the mayor. He
then transferred to a client advocacy position with the state agency, in which
he assisted people facing unexpected and sometimes life-altering catastrophic
changes in their lives to find satisfactory resolution to their problems.
Subsequently Mr. Schwartz
accepted a Child Protective Services position in working with families to
achieve reunification. It was here that
his previous view of federal programs as a safety net for families now fostered
a punitive and mistrustful approach to families and children. In its attempt to build an empire, CPS
conscripted Social Workers, attorneys and the Juvenile Court to deny a fair and
just treatment program for family reunification and preservation. Mr. Schwartz completed his career with nine
years as a lead investigator of abuse referrals on a Native American reservation. There he expanded CPS to provide
rehabilitative services to teenagers caught up in gang activity.