Thanks to you, Cyndi and Masaki for words of recognition---CPS people get the worst of it---can't win for losing. Either we are baby-snatchers who unfairly take loving parents' children away, or we are incompetent idiots who let at-risk children languish and die, even, in dangerous homes. Unfortunately, there ARE some truly scary CPS social workers out there---incomopetent, lazy, or both. Their cases always make the headlines.
I'm not in that "front" line anymore--I'm like a detective---I do a full investigation on a case that's recently entered the Dependency system, to help the Court determine whether or not there are sustainable facts in the petition allegations, and, if so, to determine a Dispositional plan for the case.
But whether you are up front or in investigations, the job is enormously difficult, complex AND, at times, very dangerous. The majority of our "client" population are meth-heads, felons (with long records involving violence), sex offenders, gang bangers, meth-cookers, drug dealers, seriously psychotic mental patients....and we go in and out of their homes in situations where they are VERY unhappy with us, yet we're not allowed to carry guns.
Our union has been lobbying for awhile for the County to supply us with bulletproof vests....several workers have been shot at, or caught in gang crossfire. One colleague was stuffed into the trunk of his car and left there all weekend after being pistol-whipped. They didn't find him until the office opened on Monday and his field itinerary identified the area where he'd gone last. He was in pretty bad shape.
Quite a few workers have been assaulted both in the field and in the office. After one particularly bad assault, all regional offices were equipped with panic buttons and video security monitoring systems, along with armed security guards. Prior to that, there was nothing, for years.
I was once chased out of a house by a nut-case whose arrest record included a conviction for assaulting a police officer with a machete.....she chased me out of her house. I went into a neighboring house to use the phone, and the woman kicked in the front door of that house, burst in there and chased me out of there......
another woman tried to shut me in a basement I went to check out (where, apparently, she was hiding a ton of illegal aliens...). I sternly commanded her to open the door and advised her that if I didn't report back to the office within 15 minutes, the Sheriff's dept. would be there quickly. She opened the door, I left, GOT a few deputies, and it was a great bust (she was also commiting all kinds of serious welfare fraud)....
A lot of our workers are out-stationed in police agencies or Sheriff's divisions, and they have it the best b/c it's easier for them to get a couple of officers and a black and white on short notice. We also have a huge team that does nothing else than go on meth raids, as there are almost always children in meth-lab houses. I was going to join that team, but decided I didn't want to be on constant call 24/7. Those workers DO get bulletproof vests and raid jackets.
Well, I'm rambling....few people realize how much risk there is in CPS work. :eek:
