Childrens's Protective Services Program

Michigan Office of the
Auditor General
Thomas H. McTavish, C.P.A.
Auditor General

EXECUTIVE DIGEST #4328496
Childrens's Protective Services Program

INTRODUCTION
This report, issued in October 1997, contains the results of our performance audit of the Children's Protective Services Program, Family Independence Agency (FIA).

AUDIT PURPOSE

This performance audit was conducted as part of the constitutional responsibility of the Office of the Auditor General. Performance audits are conducted on a priority basis related to the potential for improving effectiveness and efficiency.

BACKGROUND

The FIA Division of Prevention and Protective Services is responsible for developing Program policies and procedures. County FIA offices are primarily responsible for implementing provisions of the Child Protection Law (the Law) and Program policies and procedures.

The Law (Act 238, P.A. 1975, as amended, being Sections 722.621 - 722.636 of the Michigan Compiled Laws) established FIA as the department responsible for implementing the Program. The mission of the Program is to protect children who are at risk of child abuse and/or child neglect (CA/N). FIA has identified the Program as one of its core responsibilities.

FIA, formerly known as the Department of Social Services, is responsible for investigating all reported instances of suspected CA/N. FIA also provides, enlists, and coordinates services for families with substantiated CA/N committed by a "person responsible for the child's health or welfare" as defined in the Law. Harm to a child by a person not responsible for the child's health or welfare is referred to law enforcement officials.

FIA maintains a Central Registry (Registry) of all cases of substantiated CA/N. FIA is required to notify all perpetrators that they have been placed on the Registry and that they have the right to request expunction of inaccurate information placed on the Registry.

As of December 31, 1996, FIA had 624 staff employed in the Program. FIA expended approximately $48.1 million in the fiscal year ended September 30, 1996 to investigate CA/N and to provide services to families when CA/N has been substantiated to help prevent further CA/N.

OVERALL AUDIT OBJECTIVES,
CONCLUSIONS, AND NOTEWORTHY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Audit Objective: To assess the overall effectiveness of the Program.

Conclusion: FIA needs to improve its management of the Program in an effort to help reduce the risk of harm to children who have been abused or neglected by their parents or other persons responsible for the children's health or welfare. Our assessment disclosed five material conditions and 11 other reportable conditions that FIA should address to help improve the Program.

At the same time, Program staff should be commended for implementing a very difficult program in which caseworkers are expected to confront openly hostile parents and suspected perpetrators of CA/N on a daily basis and attempt to document if abuse or neglect occurred.

Noteworthy Accomplishments: FIA is in the process of implementing a number of projects and policy changes to help keep children safe, to help families provide adequate care for their children, and to request court intervention when families are unable or unwilling to do so (see proposed projects and policy changes presented as supplemental information). These initiatives include:

  1. The Child Safety Assessment Project
  2. Child Death Review Teams
  3. Child Protection Assessment Tool
  4. Forensic Interviewing
  5. Solution-Focused Interventions
  6. Training on Domestic Violence
  7. Complaint Screening Protocol
  8. Structured Decision Making
  9. Services Workers Support System
10. Children's Protective Services Training Program
11. Additional Staffing
12. Proposed revisions to the Child Protection Law

AUDIT SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY

Our audit scope was to examine the program and other records of the Children's Protective Services Program. The audit scope primarily included the examination of case file and other records at six county FIA offices: Cass, Genesee, Isabella, Muskegon, Shiawassee, and Wayne. Our audit was conducted in accordance with Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States and, accordingly, included such tests of the records and such other auditing procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances.

Our audit procedures included examination of FIA's Program records and activities for the period October 1, 1994 through December 31, 1996.

We reviewed applicable State statutes and FIA polices and procedures. We assessed the internal control structure pertaining to intakes, investigations, and substantiated cases.

We selected a random sample of complaints, investigations, and substantiated cases. These cases were reviewed for compliance with the Law and FIA policies and procedures and to determine if FIA adequately addressed the issues in an effort to reduce risk to the child(ren) involved.

We evaluated the effectiveness of the process used to record known perpetrators of CA/N on the Registry and analyzed controls over access to the Registry.

We reviewed the current status of training programs and the contracting process in county FIA offices. In addition, we interviewed various Program staff and mandated reporters to determine how the reporting system was working.

Full Audit Report - #4328496 - Childrens's Protective Services Program

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This page was created on 10/31/97.