“Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known”
-President Barrack Obama 1/25/09
Powerful (sounding) words that, in reality, amount to nothing more than lip-service and political/bureaucratic rhetoric. Of course, when our current president uttered these words at his inauguration, he never said they would be without sacrifice.
Now I know, first hand, that my union is not interested in protecting the Constitutional rights of individual workers. Rather, like government itself, the sole purpose of contemporary unions is to grow, in wealth and power.
Of course, why would a worker in opposition to the state’s abuse of power, expect his rights to be protected when those same rights, among Child Welfare clientele, are violated on a daily basis?
In ten years as a Child Protective Services caseworker, it had already become evident to me how, for 35 years, CPS has been able to run unopposed from within despite an egregiously un-American mode of operation: Simply get rid of those insiders who raise concerns about the status-quo. And, apparently with Union help.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Agency!
This irony has only recently occurred to me...we in CPS work extensively with victims as well as perpetrators of domestic violence...I've wondered about the motivations of my colleagues at the "front end" of the agency (investigators, mostly women), and the frightening truth is...they possess the same power-and-control issues as do the perpetrators of DV...SCARY!...
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Kids before Career
Few are surprised to hear a CPS-worker say “Child Protective Services is a nasty business!” But most would be surprised by the reasons why. The reason that CPS is a grueling, depressing and downright vile place to work has nothing to do with atrocities committed upon children. Thankfully, these are much more rare than most think. The primary reason CPS is so loathsome (for most) is the reality that neither parents’ rights nor what’s actually best for children are ever considered.
Once in a (great) while, someone remains in CPS that actually cares more about kids than career advancement. Most of us, those who share the majority societal views of justice and family sanctity, quit early on. However, some of us gluttons-for-punishment, or those who stay on for any of myriad reasons (none of which is job-satisfaction, of course) can either “go-along-to-get-along” or be outspoken about ideals that most Americans adore and, as a result, become pariahs.
Those of us that stay on, (us pariahs) quickly develop glass ceilings and therefore never attain positions where we might initiate change that would actually help children. Perhaps not becoming a “bureaucrat” is reward enough for this limited or truncated career path, however, as I frequently and in all seriousness utter to my superiors: “Sucks for the kids!”
That said; if those of us with more mainstream-American political proclivities always precipitously quit how might a government agency that does more harm than good ever change? If the public never hears the truth about CPS, how might it be expunged? Who will stop this monolith?
To oversimplify the equation (albeit, not by much) workers can either focus (often with the benefit of ignorance or cowardice) on being a “company-man” OR (with the benefit of copious self-study and research) focus on actually helping kids and families. To chose the latter and stay, fight the good fight, is to live under constant threat of termination and family upheaval. But hey, courage is doing what’s right even when it hurts, right?
Of course, a big-picture perspective, and outside self-study, is required to inform oneself towards effectively helping kids. The Child Welfare agency will never teach its minions the truth about removal usually being the worst thing these kids experience. There is too much money to be had from adoption, that most lucrative end-result for removed children. That most glorified culmination that corral’s the greatest possible federal subsidies.
Further, as Nancy Schaefer dared to utter prior to her execution: in order to maintain the (federal) funding-flow the agency needs fresh “merchandise.”
“Fresh merchandise” (i.e. removed children) is not acquired by CPS investigators that attempt to maintain families. It is only the overzealous, myopic and, of course blessedly ignorant and/or cowardly, CPS workers that believe they’re doing the child a favor by removing them from their non-abusive parents…(popularly known for years as “erring on the side of the child”)…that maintain a steady influx of “merchandise.”
These are your valuable (monetarily speaking) CPS caseworkers that the agency prizes so highly. This MO is what makes one a “company-man” (or, more likely, woman). This is what prevents a worker from acquiring a glass-ceiling and/or ending one’s career. If you chose not to prioritize the money over the kids…well…you’re done.
Who knew “Child Protective Services” was not a good place to work for those who hoped only to devote their careers to children.
So…from one who has sacrificed his/her career…and yet (so far) continues to fight the good fight from within CPS, I can tell you, every day could be my last. But, in the meantime, I am gratified by helping children one “starfish” at a time.
Once in a (great) while, someone remains in CPS that actually cares more about kids than career advancement. Most of us, those who share the majority societal views of justice and family sanctity, quit early on. However, some of us gluttons-for-punishment, or those who stay on for any of myriad reasons (none of which is job-satisfaction, of course) can either “go-along-to-get-along” or be outspoken about ideals that most Americans adore and, as a result, become pariahs.
Those of us that stay on, (us pariahs) quickly develop glass ceilings and therefore never attain positions where we might initiate change that would actually help children. Perhaps not becoming a “bureaucrat” is reward enough for this limited or truncated career path, however, as I frequently and in all seriousness utter to my superiors: “Sucks for the kids!”
That said; if those of us with more mainstream-American political proclivities always precipitously quit how might a government agency that does more harm than good ever change? If the public never hears the truth about CPS, how might it be expunged? Who will stop this monolith?
To oversimplify the equation (albeit, not by much) workers can either focus (often with the benefit of ignorance or cowardice) on being a “company-man” OR (with the benefit of copious self-study and research) focus on actually helping kids and families. To chose the latter and stay, fight the good fight, is to live under constant threat of termination and family upheaval. But hey, courage is doing what’s right even when it hurts, right?
Of course, a big-picture perspective, and outside self-study, is required to inform oneself towards effectively helping kids. The Child Welfare agency will never teach its minions the truth about removal usually being the worst thing these kids experience. There is too much money to be had from adoption, that most lucrative end-result for removed children. That most glorified culmination that corral’s the greatest possible federal subsidies.
Further, as Nancy Schaefer dared to utter prior to her execution: in order to maintain the (federal) funding-flow the agency needs fresh “merchandise.”
“Fresh merchandise” (i.e. removed children) is not acquired by CPS investigators that attempt to maintain families. It is only the overzealous, myopic and, of course blessedly ignorant and/or cowardly, CPS workers that believe they’re doing the child a favor by removing them from their non-abusive parents…(popularly known for years as “erring on the side of the child”)…that maintain a steady influx of “merchandise.”
These are your valuable (monetarily speaking) CPS caseworkers that the agency prizes so highly. This MO is what makes one a “company-man” (or, more likely, woman). This is what prevents a worker from acquiring a glass-ceiling and/or ending one’s career. If you chose not to prioritize the money over the kids…well…you’re done.
Who knew “Child Protective Services” was not a good place to work for those who hoped only to devote their careers to children.
So…from one who has sacrificed his/her career…and yet (so far) continues to fight the good fight from within CPS, I can tell you, every day could be my last. But, in the meantime, I am gratified by helping children one “starfish” at a time.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
PEOPLE BEFORE PAPER!
Not to be glib or oversimplify, but the reason children “known to CPS” die is because evil exists.
That said, the reason CPS* has very little chance to help protect children known to the agency is not so sensational or complicated as caseworker incompetence or indolence. Some, not all, deaths of children “known to CPS” occur because caseworkers miss the opportunity to protect children-at-risk because caseworkers are pushing papers instead.
Upon taking a job with Child Protective Services, it didn’t take me long to realize how to balance the always overburdened budget. Simply fire half the caseworkers and replace them with clerical workers because most of what caseworkers do is clerical.
Caseworkers can do clerical work, that’s fine (though not good stewardship of tax dollars). The problem is, clerical workers cannot do child protection. Who’s protecting the children if their caseworkers only have time to push papers?
For every minute that those charged with protecting America’s children are performing data input…or playing taxi-cab…or monitoring custody cases or cases open only to subsidize services…or covering visits for families that are not on your caseload…or attending to any number of other redundant and/or superfluous minutiae better done by non-casework staff, caseworkers lose a minute that could be spent protecting children.
When we read on the front page of our local newspaper about a “child known to CPS” dying, an oft-overlooked factor in the horrifying tragedy is that the caseworker -- who could have been resonating with the child’s and family’s case, actually reading the case file, connecting the dots of the family’s history and dynamic, interviewing credible collateral contacts, in effect: piecing together the big picture that reveals imminent danger -- was doing clerical work instead.
The ugly truth is that children always have and always will die at the hands of their parents, whether they are “known to CPS” or not…whether CPS even exists or not.
The important thing is that we not, as we typically have, let these well-publicized deaths, provide license for us to ruin the lives of thousands more children by “erring on the side of the child” and removing them from their less than imminently-dangerous homes. Instead, we need to focus more closely on the true, albeit mundane problems, including: caseworkers pushing papers, rather than protecting kids.
Children “known to CPS” die, in part, because those charged with protecting them were pushing papers instead.
_____________________________________________________
*Note: Although “Child Protective Service” agencies continuously change their name (one can only assume in an effort to fly below the radar) I will use the abbreviation “CPS” throughout as it is the most descriptive and recognizable of what the agency’s intention was originally.
That said, the reason CPS* has very little chance to help protect children known to the agency is not so sensational or complicated as caseworker incompetence or indolence. Some, not all, deaths of children “known to CPS” occur because caseworkers miss the opportunity to protect children-at-risk because caseworkers are pushing papers instead.
Upon taking a job with Child Protective Services, it didn’t take me long to realize how to balance the always overburdened budget. Simply fire half the caseworkers and replace them with clerical workers because most of what caseworkers do is clerical.
Caseworkers can do clerical work, that’s fine (though not good stewardship of tax dollars). The problem is, clerical workers cannot do child protection. Who’s protecting the children if their caseworkers only have time to push papers?
For every minute that those charged with protecting America’s children are performing data input…or playing taxi-cab…or monitoring custody cases or cases open only to subsidize services…or covering visits for families that are not on your caseload…or attending to any number of other redundant and/or superfluous minutiae better done by non-casework staff, caseworkers lose a minute that could be spent protecting children.
When we read on the front page of our local newspaper about a “child known to CPS” dying, an oft-overlooked factor in the horrifying tragedy is that the caseworker -- who could have been resonating with the child’s and family’s case, actually reading the case file, connecting the dots of the family’s history and dynamic, interviewing credible collateral contacts, in effect: piecing together the big picture that reveals imminent danger -- was doing clerical work instead.
The ugly truth is that children always have and always will die at the hands of their parents, whether they are “known to CPS” or not…whether CPS even exists or not.
The important thing is that we not, as we typically have, let these well-publicized deaths, provide license for us to ruin the lives of thousands more children by “erring on the side of the child” and removing them from their less than imminently-dangerous homes. Instead, we need to focus more closely on the true, albeit mundane problems, including: caseworkers pushing papers, rather than protecting kids.
Children “known to CPS” die, in part, because those charged with protecting them were pushing papers instead.
_____________________________________________________
*Note: Although “Child Protective Service” agencies continuously change their name (one can only assume in an effort to fly below the radar) I will use the abbreviation “CPS” throughout as it is the most descriptive and recognizable of what the agency’s intention was originally.
Monday, March 29, 2010
This just in from Everywhere, USA…
CPS WORKER FIRED FOR EXPOSING THE TRUTH*
Child Protective Services prides itself on striving to be “transparent” (probably lip-service)… This is what caseworkers who care are attempting to do when they go public with THE TRUTH.
A CPS caseworker published his article, “Child (or agency) Protection”
(http://familyrights.us/bin/white_papers-articles/child_or_agency_protection.htm ),
on the American Family Rights Association website last November.
Apparently “transparency” sounds good so long as no citizen knows enough to challenge it. When the truth emanates from within, that becomes a bit too close to home for those bureaucrats that have no intention of being transparent because they have everything to hide.
*actually the agency was not successful in its attempts to fire this caseworker (yet)…but, not for lack of trying!
Child Protective Services prides itself on striving to be “transparent” (probably lip-service)… This is what caseworkers who care are attempting to do when they go public with THE TRUTH.
A CPS caseworker published his article, “Child (or agency) Protection”
(http://familyrights.us/bin/white_papers-articles/child_or_agency_protection.htm ),
on the American Family Rights Association website last November.
Apparently “transparency” sounds good so long as no citizen knows enough to challenge it. When the truth emanates from within, that becomes a bit too close to home for those bureaucrats that have no intention of being transparent because they have everything to hide.
*actually the agency was not successful in its attempts to fire this caseworker (yet)…but, not for lack of trying!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)