DCFS Can Do Better
	Working for a Kinder, Gentler, Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services If you have reason to suspect that a child you know is being abused, please call the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-482-5964.  Don't stop until you get an answer.

What Happens When DCFS Investigates My Child?

You may wish to read the Stories section to see what the actual experiences were of people involved in a DCFS child maltreatment allegation investigation.  However, the training materials and handouts from MidSOUTH's class on Assessing Child Maltreatment Allegations shows what the DCFS case workers are taught to do.  Whether they follow these steps in all cases is questionable, and is one of the reasons that CAKiD exists - to make sure that the best case worker practices are followed and to make sure that these practices minimize the trauma to our children during their investigations and examinations of our children.  The following are handouts from their class (thanks to MidSOUTH and DCFS for allowing us to have this material):

• Conducting the Child Maltreatment Assessment: What the Assessor MUST Do.  This tells the time frames governing an investigation, who must be interviewed, what the DCFS case worker is trying to determine, other actions they can take, and who is given notifications of the investigation.  It also shows the Arkansas laws and DCFS policies and procedures that are associated with each item.
• Child Maltreatment Assessment Checklist 1.  This is a list of tasks that the DCFS case worker should perform during an investigation, including reports that they fill out and send to others.  (See the Family Services Forms Manual Table of Contents if you want to look up a report number.)
• Child Maltreatment Assessment Checklist 3.  This is a list of tasks that the DCFS case worker should perform if they have to take your child into emergency 72 hour protective custody, including notifying qualified grandparents.
• Visual Inspection of Children; Maintaining the Dignity of the Child.  This contains "suggestions when a visual inspection of a child is required to assess alleged physical abuse."  It also tells the DCFS case worker to NOT make the child disrobe completely.  Unfortunately, these are only suggestions - MANY OF WHICH NEED TO BE MADE INTO LAW, WHICH WE INTEND TO ADVOCATE FOR.  Assumptions and personal interpretations by case workers of unwritten or unrequired procedures are inadequate when it comes to protecting a child who cannot protect herself or himself.  Although flexibility is a necessity in DCFS investigations, since each case is different, detailed required written procedures and laws for the various steps taken in these investigations are imperative, especially and absolutely in these types of examinations.  Who could want anything less when it comes to protecting the emotional well-being of our children?

When the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-482-5964; also referred to as Central Intake; which is run by CACD) receives a report from a mandated reporter or the public, the operator determines whether the alleged injuries or maltreatment is a Priority I (severe maltreatment) or a Priority II (other child maltreatment), as defined in PUB-357: Child Maltreatment Assessment Protocol, and routes most Priority I cases to the Crimes Against Children Division (CACD) of the Arkansas State Police, and the Priority II cases to the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) of the Department of Human Services (DHS).  (DCFS also handles Priority I cases of abandonment, failure to protect, medical neglect of disabled infants, failure to thrive, malnutrition and substantial possibility of severe maltreatment.)

When DCFS gets a Priority II report, they assign it to a DCFS case worker (Family Service Worker), who must then interview and possibly examine the child within 72 hours of the report (Priority I reports require a 24 hour response; studies by DCFS shows that they met those requirements 85% of the time in 2002, with a goal of 95% compliance).  Before interviewing the child, the DCFS case worker usually interviews the person that made the initial report.  The child is then taken into a room by themself, plus usually another adult witness such as a day care worker or a teacher (especially with older children and when the child is a different sex than the DCFS case worker), to be interviewed to try to determine if abuse actually occurred and who might be responsible for the abuse, versus normal childhood play or accidental injury or other explainable event.  The child is also physically examined by the DCFS case worker, and photographs may be taken of any observed injuries.  However, if it is a case of suspected sexual abuse with penetration, the child must be physically examined by qualified medical personnel, not the DCFS case worker.

It is only after the initial interview of the child that the parents (or guardians) are notified, if one or both of them are initially named as potential suspects of the maltreatment (note: unless the alleged perpetrator is known to be outside the family unit, standard operating procedure is to not notify the parents until after the child is interviewed anyway).  This notification of the parents usually happens when the DCFS case worker arrives at the child's house to interview the parents and others in the household, investigate the child's surroundings, look at the other children in the house to see if they are also victims of maltreatment, and tries to find the instrument of the abuse (matching the photographs they took of the child's injuries during their initial examination of the child) if physical abuse is involved.  Note: The DCFS case worker has the right by law to enter your house during the course of their investigation.  If you do not give them permission to enter, DHS can petition the circuit court for an ex parte (one side only heard) order of investigation to force you to let them enter your house, unless you then petition the court and can show good cause why the order should be stayed pending a hearing to be held within 72 hours.

At any time during this process, if Priority I maltreatment is found, the Arkansas State Police CACD may be called in to take over the investigation.  Also, at any time during this process, if, and only if, the child or other children in the house are deemed to be in immediate danger of severe maltreatment, the DCFS case worker can remove the child from the house for 72 hours until further investigation determines that the danger no longer exists, in which case the child is returned, or that further action is necessary to keep the child longer.

After interviewing the parents and other household members, the DCFS case worker may contact other parties who may have knowledge about the child, such as the child's physician, school personnel, day care personnel, non-custodial parent, and other family members.  If you are planning to go out of town with your child, or are sending your child on a trip out of town, while an investigation is ongoing, you should contact the DCFS case worker and let them know about your child's trip and get their approval for your child leaving the area.  Also, if you are away for a few days, and the DCFS case worker leaves several messages on your answering machine to call them, don't be surprised if the later messages are somewhat hostile - the case worker doesn't know why you haven't been returning their calls, and may assume that you are ignoring or avoiding them (we all get flustered when people don't return our calls, and the case worker is probably overworked and irritated as it is).  Most times when a case worker calls you, they are just needing some additional information for their report, such as your child's social security number.  If it were anything more than that, they would be visiting you personally.

The DCFS case worker has 30 days from the time of the initial report to make a determination and to send the final report to the parents.  When a determination is ready to be made, the case worker's supervisor reviews the case with the case worker before signing off on the final report.  The report can be ruled unsubstantiated (maltreatment not found or evidence does not warrant further investigation), substantiated but perpetrator unknown (maltreatment found, but can't determine who did it), or substantiated and perpetrator identified.  If the determination is substantiated, and depending on the type of maltreatment, social services may be offered to the parents in order to try to correct the cause of the maltreatment and to keep the family intact.  Or, if the maltreatment warrants, further action may be taken to place the child in foster care until the cause of the maltreatment can be corrected.  Substantiated reports are also sent to the child's school, as well as to the prosecuting attorney if the case warrants.  The initial reporter is also notified of the determination.  (Studies by DCFS shows that they met the 30-day requirement 79% of the time in 2002, with a goal of 90% compliance.)

There are several publications and forms that the DCFS case worker gives or sends to you during and after a child maltreatment investigation.  When you are first contacted about the investigation, you will be given PUB-052, Child Protective Services: A Caretaker's Guide, which gives a brief overview of child maltreatment, reporting, and the possible results of the investigation.  (We've included links to the relevant sections of the Child Maltreatment Act in our copy of this publication.)  If it is a case of severe maltreatment (Priority I), you will also be given form CFS-310, Notice of Child Maltreatment Allegation, which contains brief details of the allegation, and which will also probably be sent to the prosecuting attorney and other law enforcement agencies.

After the determination is made of the allegation, form CFS-312, Child Maltreatment Assessment Determination Notification, will be mailed or given to you, which informs you of the outcome of the investigation, whether the evidence supports the allegation, and, if so, whether further action will be taken.  We have asked DCFS what the possibility is that your child will be removed from your custody if they are the subject of a child maltreatment allegation, but, they have not been able to determine that for us, yet.  When they do, we'll post their response here for you.

Home     What's Wrong     Please Help     Encounters     New CASA     Investigations     Stories     Laws
Procedures     Goals     Need Information     Acronyms     Group Links     Related Pages     Contact Us

CAKiD - Working for a kinder, gentler, DCFS.