Recent news is no shock to this former CPS worker

Recent news is no shock to this former CPS worker - Your West Valley News: Opinion:

Mike McClellan asks why we are so shocked that 6,500 reports of child abuse were not investigated (“Why won’t our government think of the children?” AFN, Dec. 6). I am not surprised. I came to Arizona over 20 years ago as a Child Protective Services (CPS) worker. I had been a part of a unit in California in which all of the workers had master’s degrees in social work or family therapy. Most of our cases were families who had come to the attention of the agency but were not severe enough to involve the Juvenile Court. Families voluntarily accepted prevention services. Not surprisingly, we had the lowest per capita foster care placement in the country. Even when our cases were in court, the system — from the judge to the attorneys representing the parents — held as a central principle the best interests of the children.