ABSTRACT
When the private injustice of a given family triggers the attention of the child protective system (CPS) and the state asserts its vested interest in the safety of minor children, a whole new production emerges on the family’s life stage. All at once, they experience a loss of control and an increase in complexity as they encounter a new cast of characters and a very different script. These include CPS, a foster family or residential facility, a judge, a guardian ad litem (GAL) and several other attorneys, and sometimes a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) and/or a review board. In some states CPS has subcontracted much of its work to private corporations adding yet another chorus line to an already brimming stage. In cases involving formal criminal charges, the team will also include a court services officer. If the therapist was involved before the entry of CPS, she has heretofore been operating virtually unencumbered. Hereafter, she will be a part of this larger system of social control, which has an entirely different set of rules, many of them dynamic and poorly defined. She will also find a manifold increase in what must be utilized in treatment, which can itself wither even an experienced clinician.
