FOR YASMIN GREY For description AS AGREED

A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

February 2017

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University:

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This project is my original work that has not been presented for a degree in any other university.

Signed …………………………………… date…………………………..

This project has been submitted for examination with my approval as the supervisor.

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This project is dedicated to all the university students and the child protection services and societies for their great contribution whose contribution to the society cannot be underestimated at any cost.

I would like to thank the almighty God for the gift of life, strength and grace He gave me the opportunity he granted me during the project.

Special gratitude goes to the lecturer who was my supervisor. Am also greatly indebted to you for your guidance, support and encouragement in the course of formulating this research proposal. May God bless you.

Special thanks goes to, the entire university fraternity for granting us an opportunity to have such a unit in our course of study. From the library, various departments, friends, course mates and all those who provided us with study materials and references, God bless you. Yours was an exceptionally job well done. Thank you all.

In a special way we would like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation to all our families, relatives and close friends who provided us with moral support, company and encouragement during the time of coming up with this proposal. We owe you a great deal of thanks and appreciation. Thank you very much for your continued support.

The primary objective of this study is to add knowledge to the large unexplored subject of how children protective services (CPS) can have a finding of no fault when there is an injured child. An investigation of child injury is of the most significant action in child protection service. Nevertheless, there are numerous challenges that face the implementation of the process. Consequently, this study focuses on providing insights on the challenges that are faced when delivering findings so to provide a framework of solutions. Previous studies on this topic have provided narrow approach to the highlighting the challenges in giving findings. This has left the topic uncovered especially in the context of children injury. As a result, this study takes an exclusive approach to the issue of child injury in the US. Also, the study will critically examine the main factors that are should be incorporated to ensure the findings are flawless. Secondary data was used in conducting the research. Secondary data was collected through journal, books and government websites in regard to the topic. The study finds that formulating methodologies to prepare the findings, conducting investigations, creating a body that deals with children injuries only, notification of subjects involved, evidence processing among other. Challenges faced include the lack of cooperation, poor evidence handling, and lack of proper legislation. The paper will also talk about employees turn over in agencies.

Contents DECLARATION ii DEDICATION iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv Abstract v Chapter one 1 Introduction 1 Background of the study 1 Problem statement 4 Purpose and objectives of the study 5 Rationale of the study 6 Definition of terms 6 Limitations of the study 7 Research questions 7 Hypothesis to be tested 8 Significance of the study 8 Chapter summary 9 Chapter two 10 Literature review 10 Introduction 10 Challenges facing flawless findings at CPS 10 Solutions for CPS to have flawless findings for an injured children and turnover 20 Chapter Summary 27 Chapter three 28 Methodology 28 Research design 28 Target population 30 Sample size 30 Sample techniques 30 Data collection 31 Data Collection Instruments 31 Key Informant interviews 32 Data Collection Procedure 32 Data Analysis Methods 33 Chapter four 33 Results 33 Chapter five 38 Discussion, conclusion and recommendations 38 Discussion 38 RECOMENDATIONS 41 CONCLUSION 48 Future research 51 References 52

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This chapter will give the general overview of the study to be conducted and justify its significance. Child protective services is a name that is given to a governmental agency in numerous states in the United States, which is responsible for the provision of child protection services. This services may include urgent responses to child abuse or neglect cases as they arise.

The child protective services is mandated or tasked with a number of issues to handle which include, to act in response to any valid cases that occur of suspected child maltreatment, support and reinforce kinfolks whenever in their capabilities, to expedite services to families which would aid to ensure the safety of their children, curb occurrence of any anticipated future child abuse or neglect and also evaluate the degree of child safety. This chapter is divided into four subdivisions which include; background of the study, statement of the problem, research questions and significance of the study. The background provides a brief review of the major notions discussed in the study. The problem statement provides details of the knowledge gap as well as a unique approach of the study compared to previous studies. The research questions are the major areas which the study will focus while the researcher uses while conducting the study. They form the background of the literature review since they act as guidelines.

It’s quite evident that in the recent years there has been an upsurge in the number of cases of children injuries. Child abuse has emerged to have majorly impacted the vulnerable population with children of under the age of five years accounting for 76% of fatalities experienced. Injury has hence forth been the leading killer among children and teens. For instance, in 2009, we experienced more than 13000 youths age 0-19 who died from intentional and unintentional injury (Child Protective Services, 2015).

Additionally, approximately three million and five hundred thousand cases were reported by the Administration for children and families in the year 2004 who were involved in soundings of supposed abuse or neglect and an projected eight hundred and seventy two thousand minors were determined to have been abused, or even worse neglected by their guardians and an estimated one thousand, four hundred and ninety cases of children died the same year either due to neglect or abuse. The leading cause of injury include motor vehicle crashes, falls, sports fires, poisoning, drowning suffocations and abuses. Child injuries are predictable and preventable. Nonetheless, they are one of the most unrecognized problem in the healthcare setting.

In 2010, there were over four hundred thousand children in foster care in the united states out of which 36% of the cases reported were of children under the age of five.to add on this, in the same year, almost one hundred and twenty thousand children between age of birth and a five were enrolled into foster care programs while slightly below exited the foster services. According to research conducted by use of the national data on re-offense indicates that at least 22% of children were rerepeated within approximately 2 years and approximately 7% of these cases were authenticated.

Child injury progress has improved in the US for the last decade whereby the child death rate have decreased by 29% showing a major improvement. This is a significant step to ensure the safety of the children. The Center for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) has taken steps to reduce children injury. Consequently, they have developed the National Action plan for child injury prevention. This body aims at enhancing reduction of child injury (Child Protective Services, 2015).Lastly, the study will discuss about employees turnover.

The graph below represents previous statistics concerning cases of child abuse reported to child protective services under the age of seventeen.

For over the past eighteen years, many child protection services, parents, guardians, and other non-mandated stakeholders interested in the delivery of child protection services have become aware that the investigative response to child mistreatment which include both child abuse and neglect have been unbending and confrontational and did not bother in provision of adequate services to meet the demanding family needs.

The graph below shows the rate of children below seventeen years that have experienced victimization between two thousand and ten and two thousand and fourteen.

In reference to studies previously conducted, it’s been noted and a lot of emphasis and energy has been directed towards cases of children injuries in general. Most of the studies conducted and statistical reports produced have focused on single aspect of injury and how to treat them. However, little is known and yet is to be revealed especially about coming up with findings that are flawless after injury investigation. This shows that if only we had some knowledge on findings that would be flawless after injury investigations, things would be better than they actually are. Therefore, this study adopts a holistic approach by evaluating all concepts of any help or method that can be put into use by child protective services to ensure the injury findings are of no fault. At the same time, the study will add knowledge on impact and the possible consequences of employee turnover rate in the agency and the causes associated with the surrounding problem.

General objective of the study

The general objective of the research will be:-

1. To find out of any method or even aid that can adequately be employed by the child protective services in order to make sure that injury services are of no fault. This is by critical analysis of all the substantial facets of dealing with the issue.

Specific objectives

Alongside the main objective stated above, I also sought other specific objectives that will guide and streamline our research. These objectives include:-

1. To establish the concrete and most pressing challenges facing CPS to have faulty findings in children injury.

2. To find out the significance of flawless findings of children injury.

3. To gain knowledge on the main causes of turnover in the agency and the consequences in such scenarios.

The need for this research was motivated by the fact that there has been an upsurge in the number of cases of faulty children findings in injury by the child protective service. Though it has been noted the cases are on a decline mode, it would only be fair to come up with a lasting solution that would curb any loopholes surrounding the tragedy. This trend could be attributed to corporation between the service providers and the general public. Therefore, by the end of the project we would be able to establish if there is any a criterion or help that can be used by the child protective services to ensure that injury services are of no fault. This would only be feasible if we analyses all the facets of the problem which the researcher has all throughout the research aimed at establishing. This would involve but not limited to critical analysis of the problem encountered by the child protective services to meet its mandate. However, to meet its mandate, this is intertwined with significance of immaculate findings of children injury and employee turnover in the ages.

Placement disability

Flawless. This is to indicate a state of being without any error or default.

Turnover. This the rate at which something occurs. In our case, we looked at staff turnover which is the average duration when staff stay in a particular job.

CPS Recidivism –this is repetition or re- reporting. This word includes referral or recurrence. Any of the two can occur after an initial report of either child abuse or even neglect which is referred to as index report. Re- report would better be described as a subsequent report of child abuse or neglect or even neglect after an initial report, while recurrence is the act of being confirmed re-report which occurs after the initial report of child abuse or neglect by the guardian.

During the course of the research, a number of difficulties were encountered which were not only limited to the breadth and depth of the main focus of study but also self-imposed limitations on the research.

One of the major challenges encountered was lack of adequate data to substantiate the inquiry. The amount of secondary data available for the inquiry was minimal, especially on the statistical data. This posed a great challenge because with the partial data, we could not make a conclusive and accurate analysis about how the child protective services can have flawless findings in cases of child injury.

In addition, another major challenge faced in obtaining information was restriction from some of the research institutions especially the public libraries. Most of these information centers were strict regarding their material in that they could not allow the researcher to leave with their materials such as research books and this limited the amount of information obtained. To get the information the researcher needed one was forced to visit the library daily for not less than six hours a day to obtain the information. This was also because the research books were less and if we were to borrow them for more than two days then this could limit other researchers and readers. This made the research cumbersome and quite expensive since it was time consuming.

What are the pressing challenges facing CPS to have faulty findings in child injury?

What is the significance of flawless findings of child injury?

What are the main causes of turnover in the agency?

H1: Placement stability is a challenge to CPS finding of no fault when there is an injured child

H2: Creating a body that is specifically mandated to present finding of no fault is a workable solution

3: Does work life imbalance cause turnover in the agency?

The findings, results and recommendations in this study will be a great assistance to Child Protective Service. To begin with, it will provide the body with possible methodologies to incorporate in decision making in order to come up with accurate results in their jurisdiction. The study discusses the major cause of faulty findings. Therefore, the result could be used for action and planning to ensure flawless findings after rectification of any seeable loopholes in the systems. At the same time, the study may benefit other organizations that are experiencing the challenges of faulty findings within the organization this would be possible if they compare the situations and circumstances they are undergoing with those being faced by the child protection services. This will significantly reduce such cases and help in child protection diversification.. Not forgetting, the study will be of great importance to students of this great institution and the population at large especially in research that would in future wish to advance the knowledge it solely contains. The study will act as a point of reference to the scholars who would wish to advance their knowledge on how there can be flawless findings in case of child injury. The conclusions and recommendations in this study may prove to be of great assistance to the head of CPS and other bodies that deals with the safety of children. At the same time, the study will benefit agencies by discussing the main causes of turnover. It’s worth noting that employee’s turnover leads to losses in an agency.

As noted in this chapter, the primary goal of this study is to examine the possible methods or ways of how Child Protective Services can have a finding of no fault when there is an injured child. Nevertheless, the study will also discuss the main challenges that are faced when delivering the findings by the said services. In addition, the study will be able to give methods that could be put into place to ensure flawless findings and finally provide the role of Child Protective Services in the issue of child injury. By undertaking this study, the researcher aim at providing solutions to one of the most inherent problem to the teens and children. The next chapter is the literature review. It involves a critical evaluation of available literature based on the research questions formulated in this chapter.

This chapter forms the majority of the study. It includes a profound review of literatures from different authors and researches previously conducted by researchers in relation to the topic under investigation. The opinions and conclusions from diverse authors that are in relation to the problem are critically evaluated. The strengths and weaknesses of the perspectives and methodologies are profoundly evaluated to assess their contribution to the literature. This chapter has two categories in line with the research questions. Each subsection answers a different research question.

In our review, I will critically put emphasis on the child protective services and the environment surrounding accurate delivery ad performance of its mandates as far as child protection is concerned. Previous research has shown that the children protection services has had its fair share of benefits and drawbacks as well and as a result is a topic worth reviewing n order to come up with a conclusive decision on the way forward.in this review, I will analyze the existing literature on the children protection rights and services. This will include but not limited to the challenges faced by children protective services in provision of flawless findings in case of a child injured, the impact and cause of employee turnover on the section. Precisely, I will try o pick out on what the researchers were focusing on as well as the methodology used and then finally identify the gaps that they need to be filled in future researches.

There are several approaches that have been taken by authors in elucidating the challenges that CPS face in getting flawless finding.

One of the main challenges includes placement stability. As noted by Frontiera (2011), placement stability is a major concern of CPS in finding of no fault when a child is injured. This is because the multiple placement changes have an impact on child development. This concept prevents a child to have healthy and secure relationships. Regular placement moves complicates the issue of being disconnected from the parent. Again, it can result in separation of siblings which can lead to the child experience lack of self-belonging. Therefore, this leads to distress and deep negative emotional impact. This is because children with histories of maltreatment which would include both physical and psychological neglect, physical abuse and even sexual abuse are at a greater risk of developing psychiatric problems. Such children are prone to developing a disorganized attachment which is associated with a number of developmental problems which include dissociative indications as well as depression, nervousness and acting out symptoms. According to Fuller (2013), an injured child who faces placement instability may not give accurate information and accounts to compile up a finding of no fault. Similarly Palusci & Ondersma (2012) stipulates that the body has structural weaknesses that impact the finding. The files about neglected, abused or injured children are supposed to be surreptitious. Nevertheless, there are no spell- out measures to ensure the files are remain confidential. Consequently, the information may end up in the wrong hands. This can lead to, alteration of details. This hinders CPS from getting accurate information to compile finding of no fault.

Secondly, many CPS are faced with organizational structure challenges. Most of them have time-honored weaknesses in their day to day operations. This includes challenges in consistently maintaining a skilled labor force and consistently following key policies and procedures which are designed to protect children and managing up to date data records systems which may include automatic case management, and establishing nice working relationship with the court systems.

Additionally, the child protective services is faced by some constitutional issues.to start with, as found in a circuit court under Rogers verses county of San Joaquin n 2007, any child protective services worker who was found to remove a child from his or her natural parent parents into the foster care programs without acquisition of judicial authorization was found to be acting without due process and without emergency conditions and violated the 14th amendment and Title 42 United States Code section 1983. The 14th amendment to the United States constitution dictates that no state should make laws that curtail the privileges or immunities of its citizens or even worse neither deprive any individual of life or freedom without due process of the law nor deny any person or individual within its mandated dominion the equivalent protection of the law. Therefore not until the state proves parental unfitness, the child and their children share important interest in harboring erroneous termination of their natural relationship. This is even despite previous allegations or evidence of child abuse or neglect by the natural parents. This puts the child protective services in a tricky situation.

Moreover, it was noted that there were numerous internal conflicts between the officers in performance of their duties. There have been more differences than there are similarities between the workers in areas which would include the capacity to service delivery and the models of capacity delivery. This has resulted in in big variations in the availability, the management and delivery in the child protection services sector. Therefore, it would be difficult to claim that all individuals in the society received equal services and treatment.

Additionally, some of the top officials excessively spend funds meant to support child protection. Their expenses clearly lack supportive documents which can support that the expenditure were incurred towards supporting child protection. Therefore, this unscrupulous expenses end up to denying an abused child a right as it reduces the amount of funds available towards such noble investments.

Furthermore, there has been an upsurge in the maltreatment reports in the recent years. In reference to Merkel-Holguin, L. (2008), there has proportionately increased the caseloads to an overwhelming level. This was supplemented by the inadequate funding of the child protective services has led to a decrease in the number of child abuse that have adequately been handled to their conclusion according to the set standards by the nation. This has therefore been a big blow to the CPS in their service delivery.

Notably, there has also been an increase in the number of families which are entering the system with multiple problems. Of the leading challenge associated with this is the increase in substance abuse. According experts in the field, this unsurprising increase has been associated with increase in the cases of maltreatment. This emerging issue has therefore caught the CPS off guard and therefore unable to control such large numbers with ease.

Furthermore, there is lack of any set reasonableness of the workers workload in order to ensure they are sufficiently staffed to ensure timely delivery and appropriate child protection services. Most of the child protective service providers have established their own internal caseload benchmarks which however in most of the cases have also been included in their collective bargaining agreements together with their caseworkers.

In addition, there is the challenge of inconsistencies in the support rendered by families. Families seem to offer their support to child protection services according to the services that have been offered to them also by the CPS. Therefore, we can therefore state that the child protection services and the families have a mutual relationship as regards service offered.

To add to the previous points, the child protective services there inadequately funded by the financiers. This has led to a down fall on them to meet their legal mandate of protecting very eligible child from abuse. Most of them operate below their budgeted capacities which lead to slow response to any issues that arise since they are financially incapacitated. This has led to most of them coming up with cost cutting strategies which include retrenchment of its staff members, discontinued some of their program provisions in a bid to work within the limited budgets. Though s have been able to deliver their legal mandate effectively, their operation in the foreseeable future is a question to be discussed as most of them keep reducing their budgets due to underfunding.

Insufficient staff to rise to the occasion hen incidences of such child abuse occur has been another major challenge. Most of the child protective societies have been understaffed. This has led to unresponsive action then called upon to protect the rights of children effectively. There have limited staff to accordingly work on the numerous cases of child abuse and negligence. He already employed workers are unable to adequately handle the vast population and region. Therefore most of the cases end up being prematurely closed or just neglected. This blame would squarely be laid on the government to fund such progressive programs in the society.

Additionally, overtime payment granted to workers is normally very high. This overburdens the CPS to work within the stipulated budgets with most of its budget allocated to wages instead of rescue mission to victimized children.

To add on, there is no uniformity among the officers who preside against the child cases especially in courts. Different presiding officers ended up interpreting similar cases differently at different places and periods. This is a great challenge towards provision of quality and equitable services to the clients. Not only is there a different in interpretation of child Acts by different magistrates but also the magistrates use different approaches in dealing with matters. For instance, in interpretation of some acts of the child, one is asked for particular items that will not be necessarily required in the next one depending on an officer’s interpretation of the Act. Additionally, some of the presiding officers are not quit conversant with the children Act that they implement which pose a great challenge to the CPS. Most of the clients are frequently complaining that some officers are not well versed with the legal provisions when presiding over the child victimization and abuse. This is because most of them borrow from precedence cases that however may not be necessarily be similar to the particular cases being handled and some even were found to read provision of child act during the cases or even worse they run to other judges during court sessions to enquire on some issues.

Additionally, during presiding of child abuse cases, there are usually some unrealistic demands from some of the presiding officers. It would not be a surprise to hear a magistrate requesting children who had not been performing s expected in schools to be taken to educational assessment centers yet this is not a legal mandate entrusted with the CPS. Additionally, some of the documents that the CPS are requested to attach to child cases are irrelevant to the particular cases. For instance, for children under foster care since tender age due to abandonment by their parents and who their biological parents can’t possibly be traced and neither can their real names and identities be found have been requested the CPS to advertise for the biological parents to present themselves before the courts. This quite unrealistic, waste of time and resources in unimaginable searches and a big challenge for the CPS to find flawless findings when a child is injured.

According to Dawes (2009), CPS are faced with numerous infrastructural challenges in full execution of their legal mandated duties. He argued that most of the CPS are incapacitated to operate under full capacity due to some technical hitches in the child protection sector.

Most of the CPS are faced with thee challenge off inadequate trained person. This is despite the fact that there are already insufficient workers in the child protection services. Most of the workers who agree to work in the child protection services lack the technical knowledge or adequate education to handle the complex caseloads that are filed with them. There has been a lot of changes in the child protection services that would require refresher courses and thee use of modern technology. Additionally, there has been changes in the child Acts which required new technique and understanding. However, most of the workers are only conversant with the old acts as most of them are unknowing of the new demands that would be required of them which causes tension in them. According to Patel (2005) the move from old ways of doing things is always challenging and additionally causes significant tension and anxiety in workers. Dinbabo (2008) stated that what would be best preferred is the paradigm shift by acknowledging that the ancient ways of performing things may not always be the better option to choose.

The use of adversarial approach to families has greatly affected the delivery of efficient results. Child protection service workers have frequently used “cookie-cutter” approach where they tell the families the tasks that need to be completed and don’t engage in forming a trusting relationship with the family. This kind of investigations are judgmental and instead cause fear and even resistance among families. This is because families would be more welcoming to the services if they feel that there is less surveillance and investigation by the child protective services. Therefore, they can freely engage on realization that they are recognized for both strengths and needs instead of being labeled as perpetrators.

Finally, the use of manual paper based processes is getting on the way between child welfare. The manual processes are very tiresome to the workers and the repetition of the daily work leads to high levels of boredom. This manual work has reportedly been the major cause of distraction of workers from their primary purpose of providing protection to the children.

On the other hand, high staff turnover is another major challenged faced by CPS in provision of flawless finding when a child is injured. This can be caused by the inherent challenges experienced by the social workers working for the cps who may prefer to quit the job and find other career path from which they can still make a living out. This a big challenge since it affects the morale and job satisfaction of other workers since one may feel uncomfortable with the knowledge that the other workers may not stick for long inn the job place as they may shift gears. This big menace may be caused by numerous factors which would include:-

One is these causal factors is the absence of professional career development. According to research 30% of the turnovers are caused by this element.

Another factor to be put into consideration is the lack of enough compensation. This as a key contributor causes the employees turn over. This is mainly when employee’s hard work is not recognized or accompanied by the appropriate reward which would include salary increment or even promotion in the work place.

Also, hating the boss cause employee turnover .This is because nagging bosses can cause stress and trauma at work. Such a negative attitude towards the boss can hinder accurate and timely delivery of the services. This is because the worker may take the view that whatever he or she does is only for the benefit of the boss. His may lead to boredom while delivering tools and slowed zeal to serve the concerned parties at the expense of an attitude towards the boss.

Again, life imbalance cause turnover. The staff who would be facing challenges in balancing work and family time would be challenged to quit the work in CPS which is quite involving and require one to be fully devoted to his or her responsibilities while at work. While this is a positive attitude towards helping the society, one may fear the fall of their family at the expense of the work and yearning to make a living out of the work. Once all possible solutions to this challenge are worked out, one may just find it reasonable to quit the job and look for other avenues to make a living out of.

High staff turnover can also be associated with burnout. Working at a CPS can quite be physically and emotionally draining. According to research by the Vermont department of children and families, any staff working for any CPS is required to have high level of frustration tolerance and also be resilient. This is because the work involves a lot of visiting to the clients tto evaluate the situations and intervene in circumstances where a child’s rights or life may be exposed to danger in addition to working in an environment that involves child abuse and neglect as well as establishing the safety of children and especially adolescents. To worsen the situation, you may be required to be at your work situation or in duty certain periods which are beyond the normal working hours as well as you can be assigned duties that involve removing children from the abused homes and placing them in foster care, working with alcohol addicted guardians or even representing your clients in an legal settings.

Personal safety is another factor to be considered to reasons behind high employee turnover. Other times one may have a feeling of being uncomfortable in intervening in particular situations. For example you may be called to intervene in a situation that involve an angry parent who would in turn charge towards you. Clients may be experiencing emotional turmoil while they may be having no other avenue to direct these feelings or emotions and the worker may be put in the line of fire. Therefore as a CPS worker, you will be required to learn how to effectively interact and associate with clients in many challenging scenarios in addition to learning how to quickly establish a circumstances that would threaten your personal safety.

Another factor that is a major causal of high staff turnover is poor remuneration of the staff. Most of the staff are poorly paid despite the high demands and expectations in the work place. Most of them are unable to comfortably finance their expenses and are found to be having high debts due to the low payments. This a bigger challenge since the workers find no motivation in their work since most of their income is operated on the hand to mouth basis and nothing ends up being saved in their bank accounts for speculation or even precautionary motive. Most of them on fear that they may live a poorer life upon retirement in such an environment, they end up quitting their jobs in search of other avenues to earn a better living that can adequately finance their expenses.

Furthermore, more of the top most officials and fellow workers look down upon others. Some of the looked down upon members of staff may find it difficult to work under such unfavorable and demeaning environment and finally end up quitting their jobs for the sake of their healthy living and social life. A number of factors would be attributed to these wanting behavior in the work place.

Moreover, fatigue is another critical value responsible for the high worker turnover experienced in CPS. This can be explained as the state of feeling frustrated, emotionally distressed and full of sorrow that you may experience when working with a client. However, this state is very different from burnout which is caused by job stress as it involves emotional, physical as well as spiritual exhaustion which can be attributed to witnessing and engrossing the problems and sorrow of others.

Palusci & Ondersma (2012) alludes that formulating methodologies to prepare the finding is a significant element in a flawless finding. Outlining the method to conduct investigation is imperative. This gives an organized method to conduct investigations. The CPS should outline the main methods that to be utilized in investigation. This includes the methods to collect evidence, the format of the report and the personnel who are supposed to undertake investigations among other template. This will ensure the all information about the victim is well collected. According to Palusci & Ondersma (2012), this will enable the findings of no fault by CPS. This argument is then supported by Tavormina & Clossey (2015), who suggest that creating a specific body within CPS that deals with investigation of the injured children will aid in creating findings that are flawless in when child is injured. Tavormina & Clossey (2015) posits that notifying the subject involved aids in helping know the nature of allegations. This enhances the chances evidence collection.

Cps and their workers should use other substitute methods that would focus on the parental capacity to safely care for their children. According to Susan Brooks, (2009), these systems to be applied would involve use of service planning and case strategies in partnership and with agreement with the families which would be put down in writing in a familiar language to the family members. The family would be tasked with creation of the safety plan in all the prevailing judicial cases. This would greatly depend on the degree of maltreatment, where the protection staff would use a scale of at least two intrusive. The services would be modified to fit the families’ particular rights needed and the available resources. Additionally, the child protection units would require team decision making gatherings to ensure full participation of the parents. Moreover, there should be community service provider partnerships and peer mentor support. However, in cases where it’s established that a child is not under threat of maltreatment, the child protection workers should engage and offer services to safely maintain the existing family structures. This would be in collaboration with the respect and full understanding of family values and the cultural traditions as well as identification of families that are functional and help in building the existing protective factors.

The concerned parties should ensure that they are conversant and consistent with the following legislative, regulated in addition to program requirements. To start with, all child protection investigations should be conducted within reasonable time upon being reported. The response time should be short enough to acquire the necessary information from the parties involved and expedite the process of mediating and managing the situation. This would ensure any child abuse would not sure any more physical or even psychotic harm due to prolonged existed of the condition around him. Additionally, sit would ensure that any culprit involved is brought to book soonest as the evidence is clear as this would also act as a hindrance and a lesson to any other individual who would be thinking of the same child abuse or neglect.

According to Dawes (2009) the infrastructural challenges facing the full operation of the CPS would be adequately handled by the government to ensure full operation in the sector.

Families should be informed on how maltreatment is defined. This is to ensure all cases of child abuse and neglect are reported in good time and thee cases followed up to their completion. Additionally, this is to ensure no case of maltreatment is left unattended as well as reduce the cases of maltreatment that would otherwise be caused by lack of knowledge or ignorance.

According to Astolfi. C, (2005), all child protective cases should have a well-defined procedure that is followed by all the caseworkers in execution of their duties. This would include ensuring that there is face- to face contact followed by an interview with the child who is alleged to be abused. The worker should then do a follow up to ensure direct observation of the child’s living situation. Moreover, there should be interview or direct observation of other children who live with the child alleged to be victimized. This would ensure that there are no more children who suffer from the same from the same homestead. The alleged perpetrator of the maltreatment should then be interviewed to establish the cause and also to give advice on the issue. The society should additionally conduct a safety assessment as part of all investigations to identify if any immediate safety threats to the child are prevalent. A safety plan must be immediately developed incase imminent threats to the child’s safety are identified, to put in place the necessary interventions to secure the safety of the child and any other child that is cared for in the home. Before they can complete their investigation, child protective services are supposed to complete a risk assessment to assess any foreseeable future risk of maltreatment. Investigations are supposed to be completed within one, month of the report but can only be extended to a maximum of two months from the date the report was filed with approval of a service supervisor.

Members of the community at large who may not be mandated reporters as they are not professionals should be edified on ways to recognize and act on their implied responsibilities to provide a supportive role in helping children who may be exposed to risk which would include making the necessary report to the respective child protective services.

Additionally ways to reduce the amount of time that is spend on caseloads are viable which would lead to less time spend on paperwork for better and more accurate results. This would include:-

Use off advanced technology to provide security to information gathered by the CPS. The CPS should securely encrypt its sensitive documents containing child information and case information. This would safeguard the information and ensure only authorized personnel can get access to the documents. This would therefore ensure that information rendered only reach to the required and the right hands.

Elimination of all manual data entries. This is because they are prone to numerous errors. Additionally, capture of data in electronic system is fast and very accurate. The data entered can then be subjected to statistical analysis to provide the required end results on garbage in garbage out terms. Thee electric system is also very much easy to use since it is accompanied with manuals and is user friendly. Officers who use the resources can always go for training to ensure accurate and desired delivery of information. Additionally, it can significantly reduce the amount of administrative burden on the case worker since it is capable of quicker response time which is very critical in child welfare cases. Moreover, it can easily reduce employee burnout. This can be done by streamlining reports and forming processes as well as free up time which leads to better care for all children.

There should be establishment of kinship care grand. In most of the CPS, their case oodles are gratuitously aloft due to the fact that they have numerous cases of children who passed through the formal foster care system in order to access foster care grants. Most of the CPS are in the opinion that this can be reduced by establishment of the kinship care grant which would ensure the care of children in the care of relatives for cases that are just in need of money and not necessarily in need of care and especially those who go through the formal foster system in order to access a grant. This parallel system would be able to capture some of the case of children to ensure they don’t have to undergo through the foster system that the others have to go through.

Some of the clauses in the constitution that are ambiguous need amendments. Some of this include amendment of thee children’s Act (2005). Most of the CPS would operate to their expectations upon the amendment of some of the clauses in the act itself. Some of the statements need clarification and the meaning of some terms included and definitions should be elaborated. This would include terms like ratify, orphaned among many others included in the Act.

Cultivate and use the most suitable communication tools which would include fact sheets social media, and editorials to edify parents, the community at large, stakeholders, policy makers and the financers on the need to arrange in a line child protection funding with the sought after end results of supporting families ad keeping children safe at home. For instance the desired outcome would be to state and federal incentives which would ensure children are safely maintained at home with their families.

Use up-and-coming public will-building stratagems to edify the public about creative ways to fund prevention and intervention services. For instance, some of such strategies would involve action kits with practical tips, methodological backing projects, a national high-level meeting, beleaguered research, periodic survey audio conferences, websites and learning communities.

Communicate the collective and financial welfares and deterrence, in- home services and reintegration services for children, parents, and the family at large and identification of parents who can possibly talk about how these benefits support advanced safety, permanence, as well as the good fortune outcomes of children. For case in point, by creation of stratagems where the parents can stake their stories by use of teachings, workshops, public presentations and support groups.

Additionally, CPS should ensure there is involvement of both qualified and reassembled birth parent advocates at all vibrant decision making process points all the way through the life of the case as a best practice family engagement strategy in child protection systems and any other related processes which would include court systems and substance and drug abuse treatment.

All child abuse and neglect cases should be reported to the respective authorities by the mandated professionals who include, child care providers, teachers and other school staff, medical examiners, law enforcement officers, therapist, councilors and other mental health professionals, nurses and other health- care workers as well as social workers. This people are designated as the official reporters for they typically have the most frequent contact with children. They should report any cases of child abuse without discrimination of skin color. Additionally, the professionals have knowledge on the particular procedures to make the necessary referrals to the child protective services. According, to Carpin, K. M. (2004), the authorized reporters should be offered relevant training and couching in child welfare investigation and assessment practices. Consistent authorized child abuse reporting practices should additionally be implemented across all the child welfare systems which would make societies poised to better inform families of constructive parenting and offer operative services that would in turn promote adult functionality through categorizing children who are exposed to risk.

Another possible solution would be to ensure that the workers in CPS co-train with other parent mentors and veteran parents which would involve making the most of training curriculum and tools that involve the exceptional perspective especially of guardians involved in issues like substance abuse, interpersonal violence, mental health as well as trauma. This would be helpful to assist child protection services in engaging families, from initial contact until the case is closed in a positive strength- based approach that supports families in solving their particular issues.

To ensure turnover is dealt with forthwith, the employers should ensure that the employees have professional career advancement. Again, enough compensation to employment is vital. In addition, the management should ensure bosses have controlled power over employees.

Reduce turnover and improve permanency. The child protective societies should look for better ways to reduce staff turnover and improve permanency. This could include use of incentives to workers and involving them in decision making so as to tackle any challenges that they be having.

This chapter covers the research questions based on previous studies that have been undertaken by the authors. Some of the challenges that face findings in the placement instability, structural weakness are among the challenging in delivering flawless finding. The literature provides insights into the methodologies that are utilized to ensure the finding is not faulty.

It’s therefore vital that CPS work hand in hand with the families, the community and even churches to establish lasting relationship. This newly formed relationship should ensure child safety and reduce cases of maltreatment since it will now be a collective responsibility. Though this new development will prone to its equivalent challenges which would include adaptation of new caseworker responsibilities as a requirement by the advanced roles, the CPS will need to shift to focus to better ways with the rising complex caseloads

The subsequent chapter involves the methodology. It provides facts of how the data was collected and analyzed so as to determine if the perspective expressed by previous studies are applicable.

This chapter deal with research methodology that will be used in the study.it entails research design, the study area, target population, sample size, sampling procedures, sampling techniques and data collection methods

The researcher set out to use any available methodology that would enable achievement of the set objectives, answer the research questions exhaustively of how children protective services produce flawless findings in the case of child injured. This is one of the most imperative segments of the study. It includes the description of the method taken by the researcher while collection the data. Also, this section will provide a methodology justification. At the same time, it will aid in improving the understanding the decision made.

Selltiz et al. (2006) has define research design as the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine with the research purpose with the economy in the procedure. Therefore research design differ depending on research purpose. This proposed research shall involve the use of both qualitative and quantitative research designs to capture the most relevant data.

Qualitative research involves looking in-depth at non-numerical data this is well stated by Creswell and Clark 2011, the instruments chosen to capture this data involve; use of questionnaire to gather data of first hand people who are in charge of child protection services and from the responses in the questionnaires I shall be able to capture the factors which contribute to faulty findings. The questionnaires shall be sent to three categories’ of people; the local residents, community members, church members, community elders. The questionnaire shall be opened and closed ended and shall be given out randomly.

Interviews shall have the arrangement of a one-on-one, session to question and collect data relevant to this research. The interviewee shall note down key information needed to clearly understand the objectives of the research by following pre-designed questions and open-ended-questions, which shall be directed to key informants. The participants will be given liberty to voice their experiences and perspectives. This method shall apply to key informants and thus allow us collect firsthand information from people like the director of child protection service the Ward Representatives, chief, church leaders amongst other key respondent

Quantitative research design as per Creswell and Clark 2011, definition it is as a formal, objective, systematic process for obtaining quantifiable information about the world, Presented in numerical form, and analyzed through the use of statistics, used to describe and to test relationships; and to examine the cause-and-effect of relationships.

For this research, I shall use random sampling techniques where the, subjects shall be chosen without prior prejudice. Random sampling eliminates bias by giving all individuals an equal chance to be chosen thus giving us credible final data. I shall also assume that the sample chosen will be representative of the population. The data collected shall be analyzed by using SPSS the acronym of Statistical Package for the Social Science. This has been chosen by virtue of its capability to perform data manipulation and analysis with simple instructions.

According to (Gilbert, 1979) the target population is a group of people to whom I want my research results to apply.in this case the target population for this study constitute the the child protection services, parents and key community leaders who participate in one way or another to protect the child against any injury. Further, other government officials’ input cannot be under looked and the following shall be targeted to offer information, the local chief and ward representative as some of the key informant for this proposed research.

Mugenda &Mugenda (2003) pointed out that the sample size of at least 10% of the targeted population is convenient in descriptive study. According to Kombo and Trompo (2005) sample population should have at least 30 respondents’ in order to have correct analysis. Therefore, while this represents 25% of the targeted population from different sub counties in the united states, it shall be the best in giving desired output.

A cross-sectional study design will be used and a sample of 35 participants from each sub county will be used in helping in the collection of data. Sample techniques should be used where population is not homogenous. The respondents for key informant interviews shall be selected by taking resource persons in the communities which are the care givers such as parents and guardians and general public which include county directors of child protection service.

The methods used in this research to collect data included both quantitative and qualitative analysis of secondary data.

This could simply be translated to the tool and techniques utilized by the researcher in collecting the data relevant to subject under investigation. The research study mainly focused on secondary data collection methods by critically analyzing existing literature from journal, books and information contained in websites. When collecting this data I ensured the credibility of the research by using books and journals that are not older than 2011 to ensure they represent current trends in relating subjects.

A joint case study plan was utilized within a qualitative approach to increase knowledge into and an appreciative of the difficulties faced by social staff working in child protection services in seeing the reality of the Children's Act 38 of 2005.Data trustworthiness and dependability were improved through long-drawn-out and recurring focus group sessions until data infiltration occurred

The Questionnaire

Oppenheim (1992) defines a questionnaire as a ‘tool’ for collecting and recording information about a particular issue of interest. The merits of using questionnaires includes giving the person administering the instrument an opportunity to establish rapport, explain the purpose of the study and explain the meaning of items that may not be clear. Questionnaires are therefore solely meant to communicate to the respondent what is intended and to elicit desired response in terms of empirical data from the respondents in order to achieve the research objectives (Chandran, 2004). (Babbie, 2004) notes that questionnaires are more appropriate when addressing sensitive issues, especially when the survey offers anonymity to avoid reluctance or deviation from respondents.

The Key informant interviews according to (UCLA) are qualitative in-depth interviews with people have a clear idea about the cause and consequences of child injury and the reason behind fault findings by the child protection service. The purpose of these key informant interviews will be to collect information from a wide range of people including child protection service officers who have firsthand knowledge about how child protection services get faultless findings on child injury.  These child protection service officers, with their particular knowledge and understanding, can provide insight on pertinent issues with regard flawless findings as well as employees

The questionnaires shall be administered to the respondents. This will be one of the sources of primary data.  The other source of primary data will be observation. The selected individuals shall be visited and the questionnaires administered to them responses. Further, Key Informant interviews shall be used to collect the data as well as the questionnaires and secondary sources as stated above. According to (Mugenda& Mugenda, 2006) validity is the accuracy and meaningfulness of interference which is based on research results. Therefore, questionnaires will be subjected to scrutiny for the purpose of validation. According to (Ahmed et al, 2004) reliability refer to the ability of an instrument used in research to consistently measure characteristic over time. Pilot study therefore will be carried out in this research in order to ensure reliability.

According to Kombo and Trompo (2011), data analysis is the process of packing the collected information in order and structuring its components in a way that the findings can be easily and effectively communicated. Collected data will be cross examined to ascertain their accuracy and identify those items wrongly responded to. The data will be analyzed to conform to the objectives in relation to the topic.  After all the data is collected it will be entered into the computer for analysis using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). In addition, frequency tables, charts and figures will be used to represent the results for easy understanding and interpretation.

H1: Placement stability is a challenge to CPS finding of flawless finding when there is an injured child

H2: Creating a body that is specifically mandated to present finding of no fault is a workable solution. This is because the body can adequately control the amount of cases presented to it as well as deliver the expected services within the set standards.

There are greater institutional rigidities among the CPS which greatly hinder fast and efficient services to the concerned parties. Most of the institutions are slow to the technological advancements which are seemingly inevitable in this diverse sector and especially in delivering of quality child protection services. Notably, most of the CPS use the outdated manual systems in recording of claims by clients. This may not offer the best services considering that they receive a high number of caseloads which would not effectively be handled with the manual systems. The CPS give unreasonable reasons to the slow adaptation of the fast growing and demanding technology in the sector. This has consequently led to low performance despite the high expectations of the clients and hence the challenge in achieving a flawless investigation.

Cases of discrimination in handling the child abuse and neglect cases have been mushrooming. Some of the officers were found to prioritize cases on the basis of origin, race or socioeconomic factors. This is a selfish motive that has led to the difficult in flawless finding in case of a child injury. Consistent authorized child abuse reporting practices should additionally be implemented across all the child welfare systems which would make societies self-assured to better inform families of constructive parenting and offer operative services that would in turn promote adult functionality through categorizing children who are exposed to risk. Provision of equal child protective services irrespective of the race a child hails from is a constitutional right of every child who is affected and therefore such cases of discrimination should be found a way of getting rid of in early stages.

Most of the authorities or professionals who are mandated by the state to report cases of child abuse and neglect have failed to do so in a timely manner. There has been a diverse of reasons that have led to this big challenge. Some of them claim lack of suitable knowledge on how to identify the aforesaid cases, and the inability to appropriately identify such settings. This can be alleviated by regular and relevant training to the concerned parties on the ways of identifying and reporting such instances of child abuse and neglect and h required procedures in the reporting process. This is because forty percent of the professionals were found to incorrectly report the cases to the relevant child protection authorities. To make matters worse, some of the reporters were frequently caught up in the dilemma about the undesirable consequences to the affected child or the family or even the worry of retaliation upon reporting to the authorities. Those in this category were found to have a soft spot in their hearts for children and did not have the courage to come to the lime light in case the cases blew up to their faces to protect the neglected or abused children. On the other hand, some of the mandated professionals to report such instances seemed to have belief that the child protective services would be of no help. This is due to allegation of previous reported cases that went unsolved or unprofessionally handled under the care of the child protective service workers. This factor demoralizes most of them and loss trust in the whole system.

There were several instances of premature closure of child cases even before their expected closure. This was evident in more than half of the resurrected cases that were reviewed. This was an evidence of a major risk factors which were associated with initial reports of child abuse or negligence issues were still evident or just not absolutely addressed to the anticipated standards at the time the case was not yet closed. For case in point, there are cases where a file was closed with only a single phone call to launch the origin of the abuse. Additionally, there was no single indication of face to face contact with the abused child in addition to the fact that there were numerous physical corrective measures and domestic violence in the cases. This has led to many cases remaining unsolved which acts to the officers’ detriment and especially if such cases resurface in the yet to come days. This has additionally led to reduction in the trust and confidence accorded to the child protection services by the public in efficient handling of child abuse and neglect cases.

The required review of child abuse and neglect cases that is supposed to the conducted regularly and in timely manner was not conducted as to the set standards. Most of the service plans that required to be reviewed after every three months were left no reviewed by the responsible officers. This failure can be attributed to the competence level of the staff workers in the service providers and their ignorance to be keen on details in their bid to protect children rights.

Furthermore, investigative response to child mistreatment which include both child abuse and neglect has been dogmatic and combative and is least bothered in provision of satisfactory services to meet the demanding family needs. Grave questions have also been raised to the nature of the investigation which has been seen to bend to intrusive intention which may not be responsive to the family demands.

Most causal factors and state of affairs that were responsible for succeeding reporting in child abuse were found to be prevailing at the time when the case was closed. On average, the reported cases were found to resurface within sixty eight days since the previous case closure. Additionally, in numerous cases, the society was forced to intervene within a week since the abuse of the children. For instance, a case was presented of a mother who claimed to be completely incapable to take care of the child due to her suffering from depression and anxiety but her pleas for the child protective services to take upon the case fell on deaf years till the family doctor had to intervene long after the case had prematurely closed.

There was existence of diverse differences as compared to similarities among the caseload workers in the child protective services. This delayed service delivery as well as effective service provision to abused children. Most of the workers differed in the methodology to be applied in solving several cases or in the equitable distribution of roles amongst themselves. This has consequently led to inconsistency in service delivery.

Some of the funds that were previously allocated child protective services were embezzled by some staff. This consequently stalled programs meant to ensure direct service providing to affected children and families. There was no clear monitoring of society funds by the top most officials in CPS as well as clearly defined structures to ensure accountability and transparency in the expenditures in finances budgeted to child protection. This a major demoralizer to the financers of such programs who would be tempted to withdraw their vital services.

Minimal and inadequate funding was directed towards the child protective services. Most of them were found to be operating below their budgets and most of their projects were incomplete. The services have therefore been unable to produce timely results according to the set standards and expectation of the clients.

There was minimal mutual support and collective decision making agreements between he child protection services and other stakeholders in the sector who would include professionals, legal department, court system as well as the parents who were allegedly suspected for the maltreating of children. These collaboration should exist to ensure standard caseloads benchmarks for child protective services against which the service providers can always compare the caseloads to make sure that the caseloads are reasonable.

Based on the results of the study, it is apparent that CPS has a role to play in finding of no fault when a child is injured. Also, the results indicate that the views from diverse authors are true. The findings reveal that the CPS has the biggest challenge to ensure the investigations are methodical, evidence is well protected.

The findings also reveal that the structural weakness is a major setback towards CPS achieving the flawless investigations. The structures are rigid to any developments and slowly adapt or respond to emergencies.

Forty percent of the professionals who are mandated to report have failed to report cases of child abuse or neglect at some point in time. This can be attributed by lack of adequate knowledge on how to identify the aforementioned cases, and the inability to correctly identify such circumstances. This can also be as a result of lack of adequate knowledge on the necessary procedures to be undertaken on identification of child abuse or neglect in reporting to the relevant authorities. Additionally, the reporters are caught up in the dilemma about the negative consequences to the affected child or the family or even the worry of retaliation. Some however of the reporters seem to have belief that the child protective services will be of any help.

According to Johnson-Reid M. (2011), there have also been cases of racial and socioeconomic bias in the making of key decisions in the cases of child abuse and neglect cases to report. Such cases are so selfish though they have been consistently reported. This has hindered equal rendering of child protective services irrespective of the race a child hails from.

In almost half of the resurrected cases that were reviewed, presence of risk factors which were associated with initial reports of child abuse or negligence issues were still evident or just not completely addressed to the expected standards at the time the case was not yet closed. For example, he re are cases where a file was closed with just one phone call to establish the root abuse of the problem and especially with no contact with the abused child and where physical corrective measures and domestic violence were a norm in the cases. This has led to many cases remaining unsolved which just piles to the officers disadvantage and especially if such cases resurface in the future. This also leads to loss of trust and confidence by the public to present their cases to the child protection services. These problems were actually caused by premature closure of cases.

It also came up that one quarter of cases reported to the child protective services were not responded to as required. Most cases went responded to by the concerned parties either partially or just completely.

many child protection services, parents, guardians, and other non-mandated stakeholders interested in the delivery of child protection services have become aware that the investigative response to child mistreatment which include both child abuse and neglect have been unbending and confrontational and did not bother in provision of adequate services to meet the demanding family needs. Concerns have also been raised to the nature of the investigation which has been intrusive intention which is not responsive to the family needs.

Some CPS use old fashioned and outdated data management systems which may not adequately handle the growing number of cases.

Additionally, it’s clear that most of the cases that required review after specific duration of time were left unattended. Most plans required reviewing after every three months. However, most of them went without being reviewed at all. This was a down fall that could be attributed to the competency of the child protective services employees with regard to safeguarding the right of the children.

In most of the reopened cases, the state of affairs and factors that were held responsible for a subsequent report of a child abuse or victimization concern for the society had been prevailing at the time when the case was initially closed. On average, the subsequent report resurfaces within 68 days of the previous case closure. This also includes numerous cases here the society had to intervene within a fortnight. For example, in a particular case, the mother had expressed a concern that she was totally incapacitated to take re of the child but to her disappointment, the case had already been concluded and file closed. The particular case was only opened after the family doctor intervened to report that the lady was actually incapable of taking are if the kids since she suffered from depression and anxiety and was frequently on medication.

It was also found out that there existed a lot of differences among the workers n delivery of child protection services. These differences have resulted to delayed or even stalled delivery of the services to the needy people. Most employees differed in the models of service delivery and the capacity to deliver. The listed variations in workers have also led to inconsistency of service delivery.

As per the recommendation in order to ensure that children and especially the youth who have been victimized and need protection receive timely care, appropriate care and support which is consistent, the following are suggested to the child protective services as well as any other child aid organization. The concerned parties should ensure that they are conversant and consistent with the following legislative, regulated in addition to program requirements.

To start with, all child protection investigations should be conducted within reasonable time upon being reported. The response time should be short enough to acquire the necessary information from the parties involved and expedite the process of mediating and managing the situation. This would ensure any child abuse would not sure any more physical or even psychotic harm due to prolonged existed of the condition around him. Additionally, sit would ensure that any culprit involved is brought to book soonest as the evidence is clear as this would also act as a hindrance and a lesson to any other individual who would be thinking of the same child abuse or neglect.

Secondly, in cases where the custody of he abused children is still with the parents, regular home visits should be conducted as well as service plan reviews within the required time frames. This would be in order to ensure that the healing process of the victimized children goes on as anticipated. It should also provide an avenue of ensuring that such cases don’t resurface again in the same family. Regular and timely visits would act as a warning that the authorities are available any moment to stand with the rights of the children and this would change any ill-mannered thoughts as one would fear colliding with the law.

All child abuse and neglect cases should be reported to the respective authorities by the mandated professionals who include, child care providers, teachers and other school staff, medical examiners, law enforcement officers, therapist, councilors and other mental health professionals, nurses and other health- care workers as well as social workers. This people are designated as the official reporters for they typically have the most frequent contact with children. They should report any cases of child abuse without discrimination of skin color. Additionally, the professionals have knowledge on the particular procedures to make the necessary referrals to the child protective services. Additionally, the authorized reporters should be offered relevant training and couching in child welfare investigation and assessment practices. Consistent authorized child abuse reporting practices should additionally be implemented across all the child welfare systems which would make societies poised to better inform families of constructive parenting and offer operative services that would in turn promote adult functionality through categorizing children who are exposed to risk.

In order to ensure that all funds directed toward supporting the child protection services are appropriately spend in the stipulated programs to ensure direct service provision to affected children and families, the child protective services should work hand in hand with the concerned government ministry in order to identify the available prospects to advance service delivery with provision of child support and needs as the main agenda to be focused. This would increase the provision of quality and services delivery and therefore free up existing child protection finances which would then be used in reinvestment programs into direct client services. Additionally, the top most official should ensure that it watches over the organization finances and expenditures to make sure that funds are spent appropriately and therefore they are not mismanaged but are squarely used for child protection services to the last cent. This would facilitate transparency and therefore would not be demoralizing to the financers of the programs since finances are spend for the stipulated purpose they were assigned for.

In the cases involving children place under the care of societies, regularly and within a time bound plan of care reviews should be conducted.

To add on, child protection history should be conducted. This involves all the individuals who were involved with the child upon reports of child protection concerns should be conducted.

Moreover, cases concerning child protection should not be closed prematurely. Child protective services should therefore ensure that any risk factors which may be present are adequately and expertly addressed before the concerned cases are closed. His should ensure that any particular case is a corded the required attention and handling as it deserves. This as a result would lead to few cases or complains from the public as a result of mishandling or negligence due to ignorance of the concerned officers by the public. This would increase public confidence and trust in the safety and protection of their children by the concerned service providers.

As well, there should be conduction of annual review and analysis involving all the wind down cases in order to determine if there is any corrective mechanism or action is needed in order to reduce cases of premature closure of cases.

Furthermore the child protective services should collaborate with their service providers in the region in order to ensure effective and efficient delivery of child protection services according to the legislative, regulatory, policy and program requirements frameworks in order to come up with standard caseloads benchmarks for child protective services against which the service providers can always compare the caseloads to make sure that the caseloads are reasonable. Also, it would be able to establish the extent of the effect t differences in the supports rendered by the society have on the quality of child protection services across the globe ad finally ensure that children and families have equitable access to the supports they require.

In cases where the child protective services establishes a child who is desperately in need of their support but doesn’t necessarily to be removed from the home, and taken into the service’s care, the child and the respective family should receive support and the necessary services from the child protective services while the child remains at home. Additionally, within one month of concluding the investigation, the child protective service should complete an assessment of the child’s and family’s strengths and needs and then come up with a service plan. At a minimum, the service plan must include specific goals, objectives, and tasks including the persons responsible for the cases and the time frame within which the task is to be completed as well as thee planned level of contact with the child and family by the child protection service worker the service plan must then be reviewed after every six months that lapse while the child and the family are receiving services, or when changes to the family circumstances affecting the

The state should also adequately fund the child protective services. This is to ensure they deliver within their mandated jurisdiction of provision of all mandated responsibilities to all the identified qualified children with addition of the new regulatory requirement that societies must always operate within their funding allocation. This is to reduce retrenchment of workers by the service providers in a bid to operate within their fixed budgets due to financial constraints imposed by lack of sufficient funds to operate normally. This is because direct costs involved in child protection vary consistently across the region. This size difference among the different service providers led to the rise of the varying degrees of scale an even capacity to bear with the changes in the service demands, which includes costs associated children who have complex needs. Therefore, there is a greater need or some of the child protective services to merge with others in order to realize economies of scale. This would lead to cost reduction and saving due to the amalgamation.

Frequent meetings should be conducted and facilitated by the police, presiding officers and the workers in the child protection services. This is to ensure they familiarize to each other and handle any conflicting ideologies or problems they are encountering in efficient child protection. Thee stakeholders should be able to deliberate on the issue of national importance and find the way possible for the challenges they are encountering.

In reference to Winnik, G. (2005), workers in the CPS department should also be adequately trained in the practical presentation of the progressive methodology in order to offer their services in child protection. This would ensure that all cases are expertise handled with the weight they carry and in a timely manner according to the expectations of all the parties involved. Immediately the workers are trained on practical application of interpretation of services in a developmental approach, then adequate resources need to be made available to them.

For efficient and full implementation of the child protection, and for the process to be successful in all aspects, appropriate facilities need to be made available to the workers and the department of child protection services. This is according to McElroy, R. (2012). This would include but not limited to adequate and advanced office machinery like computers, fax machines and telephone, sufficient motor vehicles to enable smooth operation of their missions, office equipment and children homes. This would ensure operation of CPS to their full capacity.

Some child protective societies would be advised to amalgamate with each other in service provision and shared service arrangements. This would significantly cut on their costs of operation especially cur on wages and rental expenses and consolidate their efforts in bid of a better child protection services.

Child protection workers should actively involve parents and guardians as key partners in the investigation, service delivery and planning. This would make them feel as recognized stakeholders in the provision of child protection in the region and would also work as watch dogs for the child protection workers and the CPS in their absence by taking the necessary actions whenever incidences of child abuse or negligence come on the rise.

Cps and their workers should use any other substitute methods that would solely put emphasis on the parental capacity to safely care for their children. This systems to be applied would involve use of service planning and case strategies in partnership and with agreement with the families which would be put down in writing in a familiar language to the family members. The family would be tasked with creation of the safety plan in all the prevailing judicial cases. This would greatly depend on the degree of maltreatment, where the protection staff would use a scale of at least two intrusive. The services would be modified to fit the families’ particular rights needed and the available resources. Additionally, the child protection units would require team decision making gatherings to ensure full participation of the parents. Moreover, there should be community service provider partnerships and peer mentor support. However, in cases where it’s established that a child is not under threat of maltreatment, the child protection workers should engage and offer services to safely maintain the existing family structures. This would be in collaboration with the respect and full understanding of family values and the cultural traditions as well as identification of families that are functional and help in building the existing protective factors.

Also it would be recommended to co-train with other parent mentors and veteran parents by making the most of training curriculum and tools that involve the exceptional perspective especially of guardians involved in issues like substance abuse, interpersonal violence, mental health as well as trauma. This would be helpful to assist child protection services in engaging families, from initial contact until the case is closed in a positive strong point- based approach that supports families in solving their particular issues.

Encourage the involvement of trained and reunified birth parent advocates at all vital decision making process points throughout the life of the case as a best practice family engagement strategy in child protection systems and any other related processes which would include court systems and substance and drug abuse treatment.

Moreover, the secretary in charge of health and human services should use the current research agenda, which is allowed in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act in order to facilitate better targeting of future funding for those area that support local efforts to explore collaborative partnership with other community agencies.

Make certain that the involved parents receive effective legal representation in all the court hearing. Court- ordered citations and any other reports should be undoubtedly explained and communicated to the parents before the aforementioned court proceedings.

The health and human services department should regularly review its research agenda and the priority areas identified as very critical in child abuse and neglect to determine how limited discretionary dollars could be used to explore the full scope of child abuse and neglect within the child protection section. As a consequence of this process, the department finances a unit of research projects that critically focus on building partnerships with the community to answer back to child abuse and neglect as part of its general research stratagem. These projects include eighteen school based child maltreatment services projects which emphasize community partnerships making good use of the school community that will contribute to the knowledge base of the abuse prevention, identification, intervention, and collaborative treatment efforts.

All the authorized and even the non-mandated interested party , including but not restricted to child protective services workers, magistrates, law enforcement department, community representatives should cooperate with each other with the and build partnership with the involved families in the child protection services. This should be based on trust, egalitarianism and reciprocated understanding in order to obtain the specified goals and the desired goals.

The secretary of health and human services is required to develop specific technique, which would include but not restricted to regional seminars, white papers, and on-site technical assistance which would promote community based methodologies child protective services.

In conclusion, though most of the CPS are aware of the features and key doctrines of a progressive approach, and that some of the CPS were able to contextualize child protection according to the provisions contained in children act, especially from a progressive perspective, the provisions contained in the Act are not completely actualized within a progressive paradigm. It would be critical to note that the paramount step in constitutional social service delivery within a progressive approach would be to make out that constitutional services are also included in the basket of progressive social welfare service delivery. Therefore possession of adequate knowledge on where constitutional services fit within a progressive approach would be an excellent step towards shifting towards progressive approach in child protection services.

Child protection services is an important and integral part of our nation’s infrastructure for ensuring that all children are safe and family bonds are strengthened. It’s the right time to make necessary improvements in the way system interact with families and many strong leaders in the area of working extra hard to ensure that those changes occur. The experience and knowledge of parents who have previously received these services through the child protective services is a vital resource for the understanding how there advancements might successfully be made. This document drawing on the expertise of the Casey family programs birth parent advisory committee was of great use to policy makers, child protective services, legal departments, and any other mandated and non-mandated stakeholders to ensure transformation of the systems. Their personal as well as collective insight are linked with resources from the professional literature from the child protective services.

Institutional challenges that CPS encounter in the protection of children protection range from adverse attitude of the staff who are not well acquitted to the provisions contained in the children Act and who are not even implementing services from a progressive line of attack . According to Mbambo (2004), he argues that execution of a successful child protection would require a paradigm shift and a change of the attitude among the employees in child protection services.

Workers in the CPS are the major victims of the children court system in execution of their legal mandate of provision of safety to all affected children which they never challenge in the interest of effective child protection services. research has proven that most of the institutional challenges in provision of adequate presentation of children cases in the court system range from lack in application of laws by the presiding magistrates, circuit court magistrates who are not well versed with provision of children Act, officers who despise the workers and those that place unrealistic demands to the workers hence overburdening them. Adams (2002) maintains that it’s the role of workers in CPS to be more critical and experts and be quick to respond at any oppressive behavior in line of duty.

Some of the infrastructural rigidities that most of the CPS encounter in their execution of protection of children include the scarcity of resources to fully implement their programs, the causal factor for the scarcity of resources could be attributed to inadequate financing of the organizations by the government while efficient and effective constraints would include lack of expansion space motor vehicles and adequate and advanced office equipment which would include computers, fax machines and telephone devices.

Child protection cannot fully be carried out with the inadequate social workers experienced in most of the CPS. The workers who work in the child [protection services face gargantuan human resources encounters in their efforts to offer quality child protection services. this would be with the inclusion of constrained resources, inadequate workers in thee CPS, inadequate training of the workers involved child protection, and the overwhelming caseloads in the sector that require handling. This can be squarely attributed to low n to the workers, high level of workloads, poor working environment that is unconducive to the workers, which is leading to brain drain. The unfavorable working conditions for the workers are an emerging issue that need to adequately be dealt with and in accordance with the intensity it requires. It has been found out that most workers work in poor working conditions characterized by inadequate office equipment, fittings, inadequacy of motor vehicles for regular and time provision of their services to the clients, high levels of caseloads and inadequacy of trained staff. According to Dinbabo (2008) it’s within the capability and mandate of the workers working in CPS to make child protection a reality in the society. The high levels of caseloads frequently lead to burnout, high social worker turnover, stress and frustration among the workers.

Inadequacies that some CPS encounter in the execution of child protection will be associated with the transfer of children to unconventional placements; different interpretation and understanding of child protection Act sections and the exaggerated reliance of the child protection systems in foster care structures in the provision of income made for support of the children.

Difficulties that CPS and workers are encountering in their execution of legal responsibility to ensure adequate protection of the children can be effectively addressed by the establishment of a kinship care grant where the children are under care of their responsible relatives who would not be in need of money; increasing the remuneration given to workers in the CPS and encouraging coordination between the different and numerous stakeholders involved in child protection. Loffell (2011) was of the same mind that introduction of the kinship care grant can improve this problem of having to undergo formal child protection system with the aim of acquiring a grant.

Future research may focus on the factors that Managers at CPS should consider while making investigation decisions. This will help in adding literature to the subject.

Child Protective Services. (2015). Critical Issues in Child Welfare. doi:10.7312/shir16078-006

Frontiera, D. K. (2011). Fighting CPS: Guilty until proven innocent of child protective services' charges. Houston, TX: ABC's Press.

Fuller, T. (2013). Beyond Investigations: Differential Response in Child Protective Services. Handbook of Child Maltreatment, 443-461. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7208-3_24

Kombo, D. K. and Tromp, D. L. A. (2006)’. Proposal and Thesis Writing Introduction.Nairobi.Paulines Publications’ Africa.  

Palusci, V. J., & Ondersma, S. J. (2012). Services and Recurrence After Psychological Maltreatment Confirmed by Child Protective Services. Child Maltreatment, 17(2), 153-163. doi:10.1177/1077559511433817

Mugenda, O. M., & Mugenda, A. G. (2003). Research methods. Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Nairobi. Acts Press.

Oppenheim, A. N. (1992) Questionnaire design, interviewing and attitude measurement (2nd edition). London: St Martin's Press.

Tavormina, M., & Clossey, L. (2015). Exploring crisis and its effects on workers in child protective services work. Child & Family Social Work, n/a-n/a. doi:10.1111/cfs.12209.

https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/services.pdf, National Survey of Child & Adolescent Wellbeing.

Larsen-Rife, D. and Susan Brooks, (2009). The Importance of Family Engagement in Child Welfare Services, UC Davis Extension, Center for Human Services.

https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/xreporting.pdf#Page=2&view=Fit, “Purpose of Cross Reporting,”

Lohrbach, S., Sawyer, R., Saugen, J., Astolfi, C., Schmitt, K., Worden, P., et al. (2005). Ways of Working in Child Welfare: A Perspective on Practice. Protecting Children