Day in the Life

So you might be wondering what we do in typical day. Well let me tell you. There is no typical day. That was a let down wasn't it? The truth is every day is different, with different cases and different requirements, and different things we need to do. So while I cannot tell you about a typical day, I can tell you some of the things that we do.
Like I said before when a report comes in we have to respond either on the same day, within 72 hours, or within 20 days (for non abuse, non neglect cases). Most cases are 72 hours. Cases are only same day if a child has a bruise (so we can get pictures of it), is afraid to go home (so we can assess their safety right away), if the child is in police protective custody, or if the alleged perpetrator is living in the same house (in cases of sexual abuse or extreme physical abuse allegations). The first step to responding is to see the child, which usually occurs in the school (if the child is school age). I have been in on several of these meetings and find them really interesting. During this interview we are attempting to assess the safety of child. We want to know about their home life and what is going on. We want to talk about some of the details of the report to determine exactly what happened and if it is concerning. We want to talk to all the kids in the home, even if the report was not about them, to get a complete picture of what the home life looks like. Once we have met with the kid (or kids) the report is about, response time is considered met. From there, we have a month or two to officially close the case. When we are talking to kids you have to be really gentle with them. We need them to open up to us, but many are afraid of the consequences of talking to us or just of talking about the situation. So we have to encourage them to talk by talking about unrelated things (like school or activities they enjoy) and then slowly moving into what was in our report. Kids are all different in how they respond to us. Some just open up and talk about everything. With others, every word is a struggle to get out. We have to be prepared for whatever we might face and adapt to what the child needs.
After we have talked to all the kids we will talk to the parents. Unlike when we talk to kids where we talk around the report, with parents we deal with everything head on. We tell them exactly what is in the report and give them a chance to respond to the allegations. As you can imagine, parents have a wide range of reactions to being investigated by us. One mom came out, took one look at us, and started cussing us out wanting to know who reported her and why they would do that and telling us it was basically crap. Another mom, who was reported for emotional abuse, just admitted to yelling and screaming at her kids, told us she was overwhelmed, and broke down and cried. Many parents are afraid of us, worried we are going to take their kids from them. So we have to do a lot of reassuring and telling them we just want to ensure the child is safe. Once we have their side of the story, we offer them services if the situation warrants it. Family preservation services are designed to offer intensive in home services (such as counseling, parenting training, disciplining training) to help keep the family together.
Many other things can happen in the life of a case, but I will leave that for another day!