Proserpina, I don't mean to be combative in my text, but you would be surprised what children get taken for. I just was talking to Duranie (I finally know what her name means so I'll be able to spell it) (I looked yours up too!)
The real danger at CPS is the assumption that if they are involved that the parent has done something wrong. As I'm sure you know, a vast majority of cases are completely without merit and are "referred" by people with an Axe to grind. Sometimes, either because the social worker is jaded from how much they have seen, or because the person with an axe to grind is good at their "referral," CPS gets more deeply involved than they should.
On occasion after they have "committed" to the case and find out that the "tip of the iceberg" that the struck at is really just an ice cube floating in the ocean, they are emotional or professionally committed and don't want to back out and say, "oops I was wrong." So they wrongfully pursue cases.
I will grant you that this is a minority of the time. Because of the subject matter though, children, the results are grave. There are two very bad assumptions to have if you work with CPS, first believing that what you see is the "tip of the iceberg" and second that because they are children that you should err on the side of protecting them.
The truth is that custody of one's child is so sacrosanct that you have very little room for error. Unfortunately you must be right, and not err either way, which is an incredible burden to bear. The truth is if CPS is too "reticent" as CDWjava said (which happens) sometimes children are injured or even die. If they are too aggressive, sometimes parents are unjustly abused and families suffer. Neither outcome is acceptable.
So CPS walks a tight-wire, and they are human. All I ask is that we all step back from each situation and view it like it is the first one you have seen. For example, in this one you assume that their must be something else wrong with the OP than just letting the child get lice. Not necessarily. We'll see.
Ok, enough of my pontificating. I hope that clears things up Proserpina.
