Affecting Change - Research Paper Example

This is particularly so as a result of the high volume of reports and referrals, together with budget cuts (Waldfogel, 1998). As a result, there are many instances in which some children at high risk of maltreatment are not identified and in other cases, too much attention is turned toward children who are not at a genuine risk of abuse or neglect (Waldfogel, 1998). It has been widely suggested that community partnerships can improve CPS responsiveness and foster an environment capable of ensuring that children are safe (France & Utting, 2005).

This paper investigates the feasibility of community partnerships as a method of improving the current CPS system. The first part of this paper details and analyzes the current CPS system. The second part of this paper will analyze the concept of community partnerships and demonstrates how it can improve the current CPS system and in turn improve the safety of children. Munro (2005) describes the current CPS system in Western ideology as similar to that of the functioning of a nuclear power plant.

According to Munro (2005), like a nuclear power plant, the CPS system is focused on the prevention of disaster, injury and death. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it focuses far too much attention on prevention rather than cure. However, the main problem is attributed to the fact that when errors are made and disaster, injury of death occurs, quite often humans rather than the system are blamed for the error. This focuses attention on personnel changes rather than systematic changes (Munro, 2005).

A review of the literature suggests that the current CPS system is built around a rigid “investigative response to child maltreatment reports”, is “adversarial” in nature and does not does not take a holistic approach to meeting the needs of the family (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2009, p. 1). A national survey of CPS conducted by the US Department of Health and Human