Child Protective Services, Child and Family Services, the Family Independence Agency,

CPS. Call them what you'd like, but the notoriously understaffed agency is not a group that any

family wants to deal with. Now, my family we interacted with CPS for months, for all the best reasons,

which leaves me viewing CPS workers as well-intentioned people, usually women, who have a stressful and

uniquely difficult job. When we adopted our oldest child, CPS monitored him in our home before

they would approve the adoption. To facilitate the process, our son was assigned a caseworker.

This worker, a petite Asian woman, she came to our home every week. And during her visits,

she performed a check of the house. She made sure things were clean, that our little boy had a

bed to sleep in, and that there was food in the refrigerator. Then she would speak privately with

our son, making sure that he was safe, that he was comfortable and well looked after. At the end

of each visit, she would check with me, asking if I had questions or concerns. And then once our

adoption was finalized, we never saw her again. And that is the extent of my contact with CPS,

a nice young woman she couldn't have been more than 25, who made sure that our little boy was

safe and well looked after. A kindly, soft spoken caseworker who wanted to be certain that his

forever home and forever family was a good place for him to grow up. Other families, other households,

their experiences with CPS are not as positive, not as pleasant. In Michigan, it's the family

independence agency that oversees their work, and CPS regularly deals with families experiencing

crisis. The powers that CPS wield, they can be strong, and yeah, there have been instances where

those powers were unfairly or unevenly distributed to put it nicely. On the flip side,

CPS can be a necessary lifeline for children and families during turbulent times.

Lisa Putman, she was a CPS caseworker. Each day she worked with struggling families,

supporting parents and children through difficult times. Lisa made tough decisions based on

...