What is Oahu's DHS/CPS system like?

[memorylane]

Do they truly help the truly abused and neglected kids or do they basically kidnap any kid and run the parents thru all the hoops and crap to get them back?
Just curious.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: What is Oahu's DHS/CPS system like?

Let's just say that if you slap your child and it was witnessed and the police was brought in, the officer can use his descretion to either warn the parent or call CPS. Once CPS is called, they make that call on the scene and then determine whether to take that child into temporary custody.

CPS' main objective is the safety of that child first and foremost.

[scrivener]

Re: What is Oahu's DHS/CPS system like?

If you do a Google search, you'll find a few other threads here where CPS has been both supported and lambasted, in some cases by people with firsthand experience. I would provide links but I'm not eager to bring those threads back to life.

I will say that like many social services in Hawaii, CPS workers are overloaded and underpaid. I have had many dealings with the people who do their important job, and I can say that in the overwhelming majority of cases, CPS workers are caring, compassionate and professional. You'd think that people who have to deal with the kind of suffering they see every day would become jaded after a while, but I have never seen that.

It has been the CPS's goal, wherever possible, to reunite children with their parents. This philosophy has been lauded and heavily criticized (here on HT included). If by "hoops and crap" you mean counseling and education, some here say CPS in Hawaii doesn't require enough. I don't have a fair opinion about that, but I can say that CPS the organization may have some problems, but the people who make up that organization, the ones who do the jobs every day, are doing their sincere best.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: What is Oahu's DHS/CPS system like?

Y'know, Hawaii's CPS faces the same challenges that plague most every other counterpart agency on the mainland. They are underfunded and understaffed, inevitably leading to overloaded case workers and kids falling through the cracks. And the media is no help either.... trumpeting banner headlines whenever an at-risk child goes missing and/or gets killed.... while saying nary a word for the thousands of other kids who get the help they need from CPS over the years.

As long as CPS is staffed by human beings, there will occasionally be errors in judgement. But know this. The vast majority of the time, they get the job done right. And this is because, as Scriv said, the case workers are sincere and caring people. They're not perfect. They are capable of making mistakes. But in the instances when they err and "run the parents thru all the hoops and crap," it is because they are putting the safety of the child first, above everything else. We all know what erring on the side of laxness can lead to.... and when the worst happens, CPS doesn't get a second chance to "get it right."