Child Protective Services practice is multifaceted and challenging, requiring professionals to make difficult decisions that profoundly impact children and families. This second edition of Helping in Child Protective Services: A Competency-Based Handbook is a comprehensive desk reference that serves as both a daily guide for workers and a training tool for supervisors and administrators. This invaluable resource provides CPS workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to assist vulnerable families, covering such key issues as assessment, decision making, intervention, child development, medical evaluation, accountability, and the legal framework of culturally responsive practice.

The handbook begins with a diary that describes a typical CPS case from initial report to case closure in order to illustrate the complexity of the CPS system and the situations CPS workers might encounter. The book also covers the history of CPS and the laws governing intervention when children are mistreated. Specifically, this handbook helps CPS professionals and students explore the casework process from intake through case closure with step-by-step instructions and examples; learn about child development, key developmental milestones, and the importance of intervention; understand the medical evaluation of child abuse and neglect through a detailed guide of various forms and indicators of abuse and neglect; learn how to structure interviews and phrase questions to obtain information from families and guide the casework process; and understand the importance of accountable practice to families, their agencies, and the public.

This latest edition of Helping in Child Protective Services compiles the most up-to-date research and practice information to help professionals provide the highest quality and most innovative services to children and families.