Sigh . . . I get that CPS doesn't always do the best job, and plenty of the people that work there are on a power trip and got into social work because they li

Sigh . . . I get that CPS doesn't always do the best job, and plenty of the people that work there are on a power trip and got into social work because they like telling other people what to do. The world would certainly be a better place if they were able to do their job better and if some of their officers were more courteous. But as you probably know, working for CPS is an incredibly difficult job. It's very demanding on your time, it's immensely stressful emotionally, everyone hates you, and it can put you in physical danger (you often have to be accompanied by a police officer). Unsurprisingly, in many places they have trouble finding enough qualified applications to fill the necessary positions. I know that I sure as hell wouldn't want to do that job. I guess I just get tired of the vitriol directed their direction as if the world would be a better place if CPS wasn't around, or as if they intentionally make life hard on people just because, or as if they're somehow more lenient on poor people. Your additional comment there is, in my experience, pretty wildly off-base: my wife is a social worker who works with plenty of poor clients who have had children taken away and never managed to get them back because they're unable to support them financially or have ongoing drug or alcohol problems. The kids are put in group or foster homes basically permanently, not sent back to their parents. And it's not like the "poor crackheads," as you so respectfully put it, don't care: they care just as much as anyone else does. What I'd like to see is some more level-headed analysis of what the "false positive" or "false negative" rates are. For every family innocently harrassed, how many families are quickly cleared of any wrongdoing and how many children are removed from abusive situations? It makes a big difference if 60% of the claims CPS investigates result in putting an innocent family through hell or if 1% of the investigations do. Again . . . would the world be better if CPS was able to do a better job? Sure. Would the world be a better place if we reverted back to treating children like property with no rights and allowing parents complete free rein over their children? No.