Every week in America thousands of children who are at risk of suffering abuse and/or neglect are removed from the homes of their caregivers and placed into their states foster care system. The individuals responsible for investigating the allegations of abuse and/or neglect to these children, and for ensuring they are kept safe, work for local Child Protective Services (CPS) units, or their states equivalent. Unfortunately, an examination of CPS units today reveals notoriously high employee turnover. This lack of continuity among caseworkers puts additional strain on the minority of employees who remain on the job and, most importantly, places already traumatized children at risk of suffering further harm. This study examines this issue in-depth. We begin with a consideration of the historical evolution of CPS in America, its federal legal parameters, a procedural description of how children today become wards of the State, the potential harm high CPS turnover poses, and prior research on the issue. We conclude with an in-depth, qualitative examination of the lives of CPS employees within a state urban unit.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-04032009-171807 |
| Date | 22 April 2009 |
| Creators | Davis, Donna Jo (D. J.) |
| Contributors | Paul R. Dokecki, Brian Griffith, Paul W. Speer, Laura Carpenter |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu//available/etd-04032009-171807/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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