Families who abuse and neglect children are sometimes adept at hiding that abuse from authorities who could intervene. A partnership of Tarrant County United Way, Tarrant County Child Protective Services (CPS) and the TCU Department of Social Work is using a one-of-a-kind strategy to find and protect such children.     

A private investigator supervised by CPS and TCU is locating preschoolers and school-age children whose families have tried to avoid CPS investigation by moving and withdrawing the children from school. Caseworkers often lack sufficient time and research tools to do an extensive search, so after exhausting its own efforts, CPS is referring children with a history of abuse or significant risk factors to the private investigator. The experimental project began in November 2004 with a $71,000 grant from United Way.    

During the first year, 170 families were referred. Private investigators located 89 of the families. The average age of the children found was 2 years old. Risk factors existed in 58 of the families who were located, and services were provided to the families. A child was being abused or neglected in at least 22 of the families. In five instances, the abuse or neglect was severe enough to warrant placing the child into foster care.   

"In one case, CPS was looking for an infant and the infant's mother, who had allegedly tested positive for methamphetamines," said Susan Ferrari, Deputy Regional Director of Tarrant County CPS. "Fearing that the baby was at risk for abuse or neglect, CPS referred the case to the private investigator who was able to locate the family. The infant was successfully placed in protective custody."

"The project definitely has been successful in locating children who are at risk of abuse and preventing further abuse from occurring," said Pat Cheong, United Way Assistant Vice President and Manager of the United Way Families Way Impact Council. "Private investigators found 52 percent of the families referred to them during the project's first year. By comparison, CPS caseworkers had been able to locate only 17 percent of missing families the previous year." 

Now in its second year, the project continues to be funded by an additional $86,365 United Way grant and documented by the TCU Department of Social Work.

"Caseloads of CPS caseworkers are very high and available staff resources must be used to investigate allegations in families whose whereabouts are known," said Alan J. Dettlaff, assistant professor and director of Field Education, TCU Department of Social Work. "We hope these results can be used to expand this project to other areas of the state, as well as demonstrate the need for additional staffing and resources within Child Protective Services."

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