False Reports: The Real Issue that Paralyzes CPS

The public cries out for justice when the evening news tells of abused children who CPS has failed to rescue. But few people are fully aware of the crisis state under which CPS operates. This crisis state of operations leads to missed opportunities and failed family interventions.

One such example of a failed family intervention occurred in October in Houston. Four of eight young children in one family tested positive for cocaine after a mother brought her eleven month old son to a local hospital with a broken arm. Doctors were concerned when the child did not show any signs of distress, like crying. He also suffered from a subdural hematoma (bleeding in the brain) and was recovering from a previously broken wrist. He was tested for drugs, and cocaine was found in his system. Authorities were notified and all of the children were removed from the home. The eight children ranging in ages from five years down to three weeks were living in a one bedroom apartment with their parents and a great grandmother. It seems like CPS moved swiftly on this case until we look at where the story really started. CPS had dealt with this family before. The mother had a history of drug abuse. She had even taken cocaine to induce labor. So why didn't the courts revoke her custody of her children? They did. Custody was given to the same great grandmother who lived with the family in the one bedroom apartment. The abuse and drug exposure continued as if nothing had happened.

So how do cases like this slip through CPS' fingers? Is it a matter of carelessness or poor training? Not exactly. It's not even really a matter of "under-staffing" or "under-budgeting". I had a run in with CPS a few years ago that might shed some light on the situation. My daughter had befriended a little girl from school. We'll call her "Angelica". Angelica's parents had just gone through a vicious divorce that involved a vindictive custody battle. When I refused to be part of her mother's vengeful actions against the father, I became a target. I was reported to CPS for child abuse and neglect. By law, CPS has to follow up on every report that meets the statutory definition of abuse or neglect. An investigator was sent to my house to interview each member of my household individually. The case was immediately closed as "unfounded".

The case worker was relieved to see that my children were not living in the conditions that were stated on the report. She was also angry that she was forced to follow up on "another false report" while real victims of abuse awaited assistance. The investigator reported that what she found was a mother with normal, happy children. Angelica's mother had not filed the report. However, the person who had filed the report was closely associated with her. He had never even been to my home nor met two of the children he was reporting by name as being abused. Why didn't she file the report herself? She had a history of filing CPS reports against people with whom she was angry. Her former spouse had so far been a victim of her "revenge" seven times. Yet CPS had to investigate each of those reports and protect the identities of the reporters. I learned of their identities from other sources. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect has been aware of this problem with false reports for years. In 1994, several states were unable to clearly report statistics on their CPS reports because of the number of calls that were filtered out.

You might ask at this point, "Aren't there any consequences for false reports?" That would be an excellent question. Yes. There are supposed to be consequences for filing false CPS reports. It's a crime. However, the responsibility of enforcement falls on the same investigators who are required to investigate every filed report. In 2005, Houston CPS investigated over 67,000 cases of children reported to have been neglected or abused. Fewer than 18,000 of those children became confirmed cases. Statewide, there were over 160,000 cases with fewer than 39,000 of them being confirmed. In 2006, 227 children died from abuse or neglect in the state of Texas. Ninety four of them were under the age of one year. With this kind of case load, investigators simply do not have the time or resources to take action against people who file false reports. There are too many real victims of child abuse. Case workers have to focus on finding the real victims. At a national level, CPS agents are receiving 50,000 reports weekly.

The state of Texas has taken measures to reform CPS. In 2005, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law Senate Bill Six, a protective services reform bill. In 2006, Texas CPS responded with initiatives to strengthen investigations, support quality casework, improve services and outcomes, build community partnerships and prevent maltreatment. CPS and Texas law enforcement teamed up to write the guidelines for creating local interdisciplinary teams for addressing specific types of abuse, like shaken baby syndrome. The risk assessment initiative worked on the development of a quality tool for assessing the risk of great harm or death for individual children. This was meant to improve the response time in cases where children were in grave danger. Senate Bill Six required that by September, 2007 all high risk cases receive a response time of less than twenty four hours.

The state hired 2,000 CPS direct delivery staff and broke the direct delivery staff up into functional units including investigations, family based services, and conservatorship. Other initiatives included document improvements, performance accountability, outsourcing and training. Yet nothing was done to address the problem of false reporting. Many false reports are placed in the "high risk" category because of the graphic descriptions of abuse contained in them. These cases are addressed first while actual victims of abuse wait. Even with the reforms in effect, CPS employees do not have the time or resources to enforce consequences on people who continue to use the child abuse hot line as a form of revenge. It's ironic that the system designed to protect abused children is as abused as the children it protects. As long as this abuse of the system continues, children in need of rescue will wait. Sometimes, their rescues will come too late because CPS employees are responding to false "high risk" reports. Maybe it's time for legislation that requires CPS employees to turn these false reports over to law enforcement and lifts the veil of confidentiality many of the reporters are hiding behind.