THE MONSTER AMONGST US!

ARIZONA CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
THE MONSTER AMONGST US

In 1998 I joined an agency which had a motto of helping children and helping families. That agency was Child Protective Services with the State of Arizona. The only thing they neglected to say in the interview was that there was so much red tape and paperwork involved in protecting children that you would spend 90% of your day behind a desk. Well, you see, as my nature called me to help these children, I became a rebel. I took time to get to know the families I was working with and to try to be a stepping stool and not a stumbling block. If you don't believe me I have hundreds of papers of conversations with supervisors about how we needed more staff to protect the children of Arizona. You see, the Arizona legislators saw it fit to require CPS to investigate 100% of cases in Arizona with insufficient staff and a high turn over rate. Most of our trainees already had another job lined up before they were even done with training. They knew if they stayed the State of Arizona would bleed them dry. In the present, with new policy that came into play created by a newly baptized social worker of two or so years experience in 2010,  they are removing children left and right. All in the name of covering their ass. The assessment that they use to investigate families through Child Protective Services in the State of Arizona is flawed. One because their staff is inexperienced "yes" people who barely graduated from University. Two, the assessment is so damn confusing you don't know your behind from your head once you finish interviewing with this useless assessment. Three because there is so much paperwork attached to covering CPS' REPUTATION that they have no time to check if the children are truly safe in the their homes. Yes, this is my platform, because for too many years, 17 to be more exact, I and hundreds of employees have stayed quiet about the ignorance which exists in the State of Arizona Division of Children, Youth and families. The system has recently, since 2010, been set up to remove children first and then ask questions. Some of you may think that is the right thing to do but it is not. These children will have one true attachment in their life and that is to their biological parent. One day they will inevitably want to know who they are and where they come from. You see, in 2010 I had a nervous breakdown because I had not had a vacation from so much paperwork that came with protecting children. The year before, my Interim Assistant program manager forced me to forfeit 186 hours of annual leave because although I was working over 100 hours every two weeks to keep up with the red tape and demanding paper work, she felt I didn't deserve a vacation. I could have appealed it and won. I could have had my 186 hours of annual leave. Instead, my supervisor at the time brought me into his office and said not to stir the pot. He promised to give me those hours here and there when possible. Funny thing is he was later demoted as we were both guinea pigs in their new task of ridding themselves of tenured staff and I lost those hard earned vacation hours to a promise from a supervisor.  Not only that! It doesn't stop there, though I wish it did. We were supposed to work as many hours as necessary to finish our JOB of protecting children (aka completing useless assessments) without pay. The motto was don't tell us you worked overtime and we won't ask. They forgot that our time sheets and the hours we were online have to match. They do not.  Believe me when I say that I have documentation and other State workers have documentation of how we were not compensated for our overtime and we were forced to be on-call 24/7 for a whole week about every two months without pay. Yes! I want to get a point across and this is my platform. Child Protective Services thinks that we are too afraid to speak out. The children in the community are not being protected.  You want to know why? It takes so much time filling out paperwork to make sure the State of Arizona is not held liable for failed CPS cases that investigators are stuck at their desks. Yes, they are pushing buttons on a computer instead of being out in the field protecting children and teaching families how to work together. Heck, with this NEW AND AWARD-WINNING ASSESSMENT they just skip fixing the family and go straight to removing the children. The sad thing is the State is no better parent. The staff are too busy to adequately parent your children. Yes, you, that got your child taken away! Your child, last I knew got $400 to buy school supplies and clothes for school in a year. Oh and $40 either for Christmas or their birthday. Not both. Tell me if this is enough to even clothe a child for school. Oh and they reduced Foster parent assistance all in the name of saving money. All that meant is that those who take care of foster children better budget themselves to make sure they can carry the task of raising an overflow of foster children. Now, I won't say that every case shouldn't be rectified by its own merit. But, Child Protective Services, why are you so quick to remove children from their home when your own staff spends all their time at work never seeing their own children? If you care at all for the children in foster care, the parents who are losing their children unjustly and the staff who had to work for free since 1993 to 2010, and possibly even now, then share this article like crazy. Make it go viral. Arizona's Child Protective Services needs to be held accountable for their actions and their lack of concern for their own employees and the children they remove. You want to know where we bathed children that came into CPS care? In our restroom sink. If they don't have a home for the child they sleep at the office on the floor. Just press share and you will have helped a family member who had their child taken away or had to stay and work for free while their own children needed them. Press share to let the public know that the Division of Children, Youth and Families Child Protective Services needs to think before taking children away from their families. If you are an employee of DCYF and don't know what to do about what is happening,  start documenting everything. If you need my documentation to make your case stronger, I have it readily available. No more silence! No more bullies disguised as administrators! No more loss of dedicated seasoned employees. Don't be afraid and stand up...I said stand up and be heard.