Child Welfare Services

To report suspected CHILD Abuse or Neglect, please call our 24-hour CPS Hotline: 1-559-852-2000

To make an in-person report during normal business hours, please visit our Main Office in Hanford

Child Welfare’s primary goal is to prevent or remedy neglect, abuse, or exploitation of children while preserving, rehabilitating, or reuniting families. Another major responsibility is to assure adequate care of children who are in "Out-of-Home" placement, i.e., foster children.

Child Welfare Services (CWS) programs include:

Emergency Response (ER) - Emergency Response provides 24-hour daily response to allegations of child abuse and neglect. Community members reporting abuse call our ER Hotline where a social worker assesses each report and decides of the appropriate response. If an investigation reveals a child is at risk of abuse or neglect, emergency response prevention services may be offered for a maximum of 30 days. Services include case management, counseling, emergency in-home caretaker, parenting training, teaching, and demonstrating homemakers and transportation.

Family Maintenance - Family Maintenance is a program that serves "at risk" families in their own homes. The goal is to work alongside the family in identification of risk factors and development of a family/community plan to ensure child safety. A range of service-funded activities include case management, counseling, respite care, teaching and demonstrating homemakers, parenting training, and transportation. Outside referrals for services include: adult education, behavioral health services, domestic violence, drug treatment, employment training, group therapy (e.g. Parents Anonymous), housing services, and mental and medical services.
Family Maintenance can be provided through a voluntary agreement between the parents and CWS or under order by the Juvenile Court.

Family Reunification - Family Reunification is a program that serves families in which children were removed due to neglect or abuse. The program goal is two-fold; case managers concurrently work alongside the family to address risk factors to return child (ren) to the family: and concurrently develop plans to include adoption, guardianship, or long-term foster care if those reunification efforts are not successful. Time limited family reunification services are designed to prevent or remedy neglect, abuse, or exploitation, while pursuing reunification of the family.

Permanency Placement - Permanent Placement services are designed to provide an alternate permanent family structure for children who because of abuse or neglect cannot safely return home. These services are provided on behalf of children for whom there has been a judicial determination of a permanent plan for adoption, legal guardianship, or alternative living arrangement. Permanent Placement services are meant to ensure that children from families where there has been neglect or abuse can grow up in a permanent, safe, and secure living arrangement. When children cannot live safely with their birth parents, federal policy prefers adoption as a first alternative option. If adoption is not possible, legal guardianship, preferably with a relative, is the second favored choice. If, for whatever reason, these options are not available, then children may continue in foster care with annual permanency reviews until their 18th birthday when they emancipate from the Child Welfare System, although the deadline can be extended for a year (up to their 19th birthday) to allow a youth to complete high school.

Independent Living Program (ILP) - Kings County Human Services offers the Independent Living Program (ILP) to current and former foster youth. ILP focuses on helping youth gain the basic life skills and information needed to become successful self-sufficient adults. Youth ages 16 and over whom are in foster care or were in foster care on or after their 16th birthday, are eligible for services up to the age of 21. The Department of Social Services provides ILP services to enable youth to achieve self-sufficiency prior to leaving the foster care system by providing independent living skills assessments, support training, services, and a written transitional independent living plan is designed for each participant to meet the goal of being self-sufficient.

Kings County also provides the following services under the Child Welfare Umbrella:

Foster/Resource Family Recruitment & Training (link to https://www.countyofkings.com/departments/health-welfare/human-services-agency/resource-family-approval-program-rfa- )

Adoptions Services (link to https://www.countyofkings.com/departments/human-services-agency/cps/adoption-services )

Family Preservation / Support Board (link to https://www.countyofkings.com/departments/health-welfare/human-services-agency/capcc-family-preservation-support-board )