	Child Protective Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-CPS 2: Community Partnership

A comprehensive, community-based approach to child protection meets the needs of children and families and reduces child maltreatment.

PA-CPS 2.01

The agency's leadership works with the leadership of other organizations to identify common issues, develop opportunities for collaboration, and resolve administrative conflicts and other issues that inhibit service collaboration and use.

Interpretation: Community partners may include, and are not limited to: tribes and local Indian organizations, schools, state or tribal courts and law enforcement agencies, mental and physical healthcare providers, domestic violence specialists, and substance use treatment providers. Because of frequent co-occurrence of child maltreatment, domestic violence, and substance use, the agency and its partners may develop guidelines or protocols for service delivery.

Research Note: When cases involving Indian children start in the state court and are then moved to the tribal court, services can become disjointed. It is important that involved parties communicate openly throughout the transition to minimize the loss of needed services.

PA-CPS 2.02

The agency and its partners ensure that families access and receive appropriate services regardless of the entry point.

Interpretation: An entry point is where a family makes initial contact with the agency or a community partner. This practice requires staff to know the range of available resources, whether a waiting list exists for needed services, and points of access for services.

Note: To the extent that funding limitations prevent full implementation of this standard, the agency should document point of entry efforts.

PA-CPS 2.03

The agency, in collaboration with community partners, regularly evaluates resources available in the community and, when gaps are identified, plans to develop needed resources.

Interpretation: The agency should collaborate with tribes and local Indian organizations to evaluate available resources for Indian children.

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	PURPOSE: Child Protective Services protect children from abuse and neglect and increase child well-being and family stability.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	LEADERSHIP A nonprofit organization's leadership consists of its governing body, chief executive officer, and may also include its senior management. In a public agency the term refers to the agency head and administration team. The term "leadership" is not generally applied to for-profit organizations. With respect to COA standards, in for-profit organizations the term leadership applies to the owner and board of directors if one exists.


	INDIAN ORGANIZATION As defined in ICWA, "Any group, association, partnership, cooperation, or other legal entity owned or controlled by Indians, or a majority of whose members are Indians."


	PROTOCOLS Instruments and procedures used to accomplish a particular goal, activity, or purpose.


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.


	PRACTICE Established actions or ways of proceeding in the regular performance of organizational duties. Policies and procedures often guide practice.