Georgia Division of Family and Children Services Interim Director

Georgia Division of Family and Children Services Interim Director Bobby Cagle

MAKING A CPS REFERRAL If you believe a child is being abused or neglected, Please call the CPS Intake Line at 1-855-GA-CHILD (1-855-422-4453) Agents are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Call hold times are generally less than 3 minutes. Initial information will be gathered by a call agent and forwarded to an Intake Specialists. The Intake Specialists may need to call you back to gather more information. Please provide a number where you can be reached. Division of Family and Children

MANDATED REPORTERS ALSO HAVE THREE ELECTRONIC OPTIONS FOR MAKING A CPS REPORT Option One: E-mail Intake form to [email protected]. You will receive an auto-reply stating that the CPS report has been received. You will also receive a return phone call to acknowledge your report and collect any additional information needed. This return phone call satisfies the legal requirement to speak with a DHS employee. Please include on the report a number where you can be reached. To request a PDF version of the form, please contact customer services [email protected] Option Two: Fax CPS Intake Form to 229-317-9663. You will receive an automatic reply indicating you report has been received. You will also receive a return phone call to acknowledge your report and collect any additional information needed. This return phone call satisfies the legal requirement to speak with a DHS employee. Please include on the report a number where you can be reached. To request a PDF version of the form, please contact customer services [email protected] Option Three: Complete the digital form located at http://dfcs.dhs.georgia.gov/child-abuse-neglect. A private code is needed to access the digital form. This code will be given upon completion of mandated reporter training. The online mandated reporter training can be found at https://www.prosolutionstraining.com/hostedcourses/hostcode.cfm?hostid 18 Division of Family and Children

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU CALL? Georgia Uses a safety model at Intake termed “The Safety System” to guide decisions regarding a report of abuse or Georgia selected this model to move beyond the incident to Fully Assess Child Safety to determine: Level of agency involvement Level of Community Response Reach Decisions Regarding Assignment of the Case Are Based on : Adult Protective Capacity and Functioning Child Functioning and Vulnerability Division of Family and Children

DFCS SEEKS INFORMATION IN SIX AREAS IN ORDER TO MAKE THE BEST DECISION AT INTAKE They are: 1. The Extent of Maltreatment 2. The Circumstances Surrounding the Maltreatment 3. The Level of Child Functioning 4. The Level of Adult Functioning 5. Parenting Behaviors/Decisions 6. Discipline The information gathered is used to determine child and family functioning Division of Family and Children

1. EXTENT OF MALTREATMENT What happened? What is the maltreatment? What is the injury? Division of Family and Children

2. CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING MALTREATMENT What is happening in the life of this family that m contributed to the maltreatment? Layoff/job loss? Divorce/separation? New household member/Boyfriend? Significant loss/death? Division of Family and Children

3. CHILD FUNCTIONING Who is this child outside of the reported maltreat Development/milestones? Interaction with peers? Interaction with authority? Interaction with parent/siblings? Medical/mental health disabilities? Division of Family and Children

Notes 4. ADULT FUNCTIONING Who is this parent outside of the parenting role? Lifestyle? Drug/alcohol use? Medical/Mental Health concerns? Relationships? Interaction with child? Interaction with other adults? Extended family/social supports? Division of Family and Children

5. PARENTING Notes The what, why and how of caregiving Feelings about parenting? Parenting role models? Did they plan on becoming a caregiver? How were they parented? Relationship with child – friend or parent? How did they describe caregiving? Division of Family and Children

6. DISCIPLINE Beyond the method: What is the point of discipline? Where did they learn to discipline? How were they disciplined? Discipline versus punishment? Who disciplines? Division of Family and Children

IS THE CHILD SAFE OR UNSAFE? Through the collection of this information about the family the Intake Case Manager makes a decision about the safety of the child and assign Investigation or to Family Support. Division of Family and Children

What Happens Next? The Intake is reviewed by a supervisor and then assigned, based on the information gathered during the Intake interview. If it is determined that a child has been maltreated and is not safe, the case is assigned to a case manager in the county where the child lives. Cases assigned as an investigation (those with a higher indication of maltreatment) have an expected response time of 24 hours or less. Cases assigned to Family Support have an expected response time of five days. Division of Family and Children

Questions: For follow-up questions or concerns regarding making a CPS Referral, please contact Jeffery Brown, Director for CPS Intake at [email protected] Division of Family and Children