How the Child Welfare System Works

Learning how things work is the first step toward helping yourself.

This page is designed to provide you with information about all the parts of the child welfare system. This is the state system meant to keep you from being abused or neglected by adults. There is a lot to know. You can read through text, skip directly to the area that interests you and also explore our interactive flow-charts to get a visual representation of what The System includes.

• The Big Picture
• What IS the Child Welfare System?
• Who's Who
• The Child Abuse and Neglect Investigation Process
• The Dependency Court Process

Interactive Flow Charts:

The Big Picture

All of these names refer to different parts of the state's effort to protect you from harm. This harm may be caused by abuse or neglect. The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) is in charge of the child welfare system in the State of Washington.

While protecting you, the State is also concerned about the rights of parents and the attachments that you have to your families. Therefore, in all but the most serious cases, the State must work together with families to keep them together. However, your parents do not have forever to fix the problems that caused the problems in the first place.

When it is not possible for you to live with your parents, the State steps in to act as your parent. The State's primary job is to either work toward reuniting you with your parents or to find you another permanent home. Sometimes, the State will work on both possibilities at the same time. When the State places you in a home that could be a permanent home at the same time that it is working on reuniting your family, this is called concurrent planning.

Concurrent planning is meant to reduce the amount of time that your have to spend in the child welfare system. Federal law now requires that you must be moved into a permanent home if your parent is unable to fix the problem within a certain amount of time. The idea behind the federal law is that children suffer when they live in uncertainty for too long and that moving children from home to home hurts them.

Therefore, while parents have the right to services that will reunite them with their children, they must take advantage of the services offered to them in a timely way.

Back to top

What IS the Child Welfare System?

However, if the harm caused to you by another adult is something that your parent knows about or should know about then the child welfare system AND the criminal justice system may be drawn into the family. This is because parents are responsible for protecting their children from harm to the extent that they can.

The criminal justice system works to put abusers in jail. These two systems, child welfare and criminal justice, sometimes work together to protect you as well as to deal with the crime committed. However, when a youth is harmed through no fault of the parent, the child welfare system is not involved at all and the police work on the criminal case against the non-parent abuser.

The child welfare system is also not involved in cases of family disputes, such as divorce, where children are not being injured or where one parent is protective.

Finally, the child welfare system is occasionally involved in families in crisis where parents are not at fault. Some families feel the need to ask for help when a parent can't handle their own child's behavior. Sometimes conflicts get out of hand and parents need help. Here, the child welfare system includes programs such as Family Reconciliation Services, Children in Need of Services or At-Risk Youth Services. They are designed to help parents enforce their rules and to resolve the issues that often put you and your parents at odds with each other. This page does not address these parts of the system in detail. To learn more about Family Reconciliation and other related services, go to DSHS Family Reconciliation Services.

Back to top

Who's Who

In addition to professionals who earn their living working in the system or are required to contact the system when they believe child abuse or neglect has happened, there are also people who volunteer as advocates and still other family and community members who open their homes to children in need of placement.

OF COURSE, THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM ARE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!

For details about all of the different people who are involved in The System go to The People.

Back to top

The Child Abuse and Neglect Investigation Process

By clicking on the different stages of The Child Abuse and Neglect Investigation Process flow chart, you can learn more details about the process and the law that governs each stage.

Duties of the CPS Intake Worker When a Report is Made to CPS

1. CPS receives the report.
2. The CPS worker uses a risk assessment tool to determine whether the report meets the legal definition of abuse or neglect and how dangerous the situation is.
3. If the situation reaches the level of risk indicated by the risk assessment tool, the case is accepted for investigation. If the situation does not meet the level of risk required for investigation, the case is rejected and the matter is closed.
4. After the case is accepted for investigation, if the reported conduct violates a criminal law, the CPS worker will inform law enforcement.
5. Based on the risk assessment, the CPS worker determines whether the case is "emergent" or "non-emergent." This means that the CPS worker must decide whether the child is in immediate danger of being harmed. If the case is considered "emergent," the CPS worker must respond to that report within 24 hours. If the worker determines that the case is not an emergency, it will be assigned to a worker for investigation within 10 days.
6. Investigation of the report begins.
7. Throughout the investigation, the facts will be evaluated to determine the best way to protect the child. If the CPS worker decides that the only way to protect the child is to remove the child from his or her home or to require services of the family, then the worker will file a dependency petition with the court unless the family voluntarily accepts the recommendations and the child can be protected.
8. Following a complete investigation, findings are made by CPS. These findings may or may not impact a court proceeding.
9. Parents or custodians may appeal the findings within the DSHS administration through an administrative hearing. This is separate from a dependency action in court.

Back to top

The Dependency Court Process

If you would like to learn more about the court process from shelter care through disposition and the law that controls it, click on the stages shown in the Dependency Court Process Shelter Care through Disposition flow chart.

A dependency case has three different stages:

• Shelter Care
• Dependency Fact-finding
• Permanency Planning

Shelter Care
Shelter care is temporary. It is meant to keep you safe while the attorneys and their clients prepare to put their facts before the court so that the court can decide whether you truly were harmed and are dependent upon the State for care.

You may come in through the shelter-care door in a number of different ways that are described in the investigative process above.

No matter how you came into shelter care, a shelter care hearing must be held within 72 hours if after you were removed from the home without your parent's consent. You and your parents should receive notice of the hearing and have the opportunity to testify, present evidence, and cross-examine witnesses. The juvenile court judge or commissioner will then make a decision about whether you are at imminent risk of harm.

DSHS does not always remove a child before filing a dependency petition and it does not always request removal even when a petition is filed. It may file the petition to request court supervision of the situation so that protective services may be implemented to keep you safe in the home. However, often the request to remove you from your home will occur at that first hearing to assist in an emergent situation.

Another shelter care hearing must be held 30 days after the first one to determine whether it is still necessary to maintain you in shelter care. The court's first order may be changed in any way if one of the parties can prove that there has been a change in circumstances. For example, if the abusive person has left the home during the 30-day period and a protective parent remains in the home, you may be returned home, or if problems with the current placement have developed, changes may be made.

Dependency Fact Finding
In the fact-finding stage, the court will decide whether you are legally dependent and if so where you should live.

A child is "dependent" if:
1. She has been abandoned; OR
2. He is abused or neglected by a person legally responsible for the child's care; OR
3. She has no parent, guardian or custodian capable of caring for the child, such that the child is in circumstances that put the child in danger of substantial damage to her psychological or physical development.

"Abuse or neglect" means that the child has experienced injury, sexual abuse or exploitation, negligent treatment or maltreatment. The abuse or neglect must harm the welfare or safety of the child.

The court must hold a dependency fact-finding trial within 75 days after the filing of the dependency petition. This is a full trial in which the Rules of Evidence apply. However, parties may agree either that the harmful situation has been fixed and you are no longer dependent or that you are dependent. If the parties agree, there is no need for the trial. Remember, as a party to the case, you must also agree to these settlements.

If you are found to be dependent, a disposition hearing will be held no later than 14 days after the fact-finding hearing. More often, the disposition hearing will take place immediately after the dependency fact-finding. At a disposition hearing, the court will decide where you will live ("placement"), how visitation will take place, services the parents must participate in to correct their parenting deficiencies, services which must be provided to you, responsibilities of the parties for compliance, and payment for services. The court may also include other requirements related to your safety and reunification such as "no contact" orders and paternity testing.

Again, the parties may enter into an agreed dispositional order and not have a hearing. Agreed orders are common as they give the parties more control in negotiating the terms of the dispositional plan.

Permanency Planning
Permanency planning, the plan for your long-term future, begins at the very first court hearing. However, its impact is felt more as the case continues and as time passes. If you remain in the child welfare system through shelter care and fact-finding, it is important that the court and the department continue to monitor make sure that you do not simply stay in the child welfare system until age 18. Permanency planning refers to that critical stage in the system in which your future is planned and monitored on a regular basis.

To learn more about the timelines and processes that govern the court's permanency planning stage, click on the stages in Dependency Court Process Permanency Planning flow chart.

Every child is entitled to a permanent home. This includes YOU! Preferably that home is with your parents. However, if it becomes clear over time that your parents will not be able to provide that permanent home, other options must be considered. Throughout the case, the court's goal is to keep everyone on track with making permanent plans for and with you and making sure that you and your parents are receiving the needed services.

Back to top