SystemSuckology: CPS Seeing Phony Reports As A Good Thing

Now here's a concept worthy of exploring.  First, I give you the link and the first 4 paragraphs of a news article.

Ind. official: Child abuse reports up over 2 years

Reports of child abuse and neglect in Indiana grew 15 percent during the past two years, a top official in the state's child protection agency said. 

Department of Child Services Chief of Staff John Ryan said the agency received about 151,000 reports in 2011, and 173,000 in 2012. 

"Reports are up, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's more abuse or neglect taking place," Ryan told WRTV-TV. "What it hopefully means is people are more aware of abuse and neglect and are stepping forward and reporting it." 

Less than a fifth of those reports are substantiated, Ryan said.

My past estimates from federal data found that aprox. 18% of calls to the hotline are substantiated.  That is technically less than a fifth, I guess, which would technically be less than 20%.  So obviously, things haven't changed much.  The rest are either determined to be unfounded or do not rise to the level where an investigation would be warranted.  On top of that, one of the most common excuses for failures of any child welfare system is that the CPS Agents are overworked, burnt out from high caseloads, stressed, and they work for cheap.

2005 Anne E Casey Foundation Report on Indiana's Child Welfare System

Therefore one could make the reasonable assumption that Department of Child Services Chief of Staff John Ryan of Indiana is completely full of crap when he says, ""What it hopefully means is people are more aware of abuse and neglect and are stepping forward and reporting it."

I'll tell you what it means.  It means that there is a high concentration of CPS Rats in Indiana.  It means that the normal people do not understand what abuse or neglect is.  So they will call on another for not parenting according to their own personal standards.

It also means that Dr Phil Argument, "tis better to investigate 1000 false accusations than to miss 1 where a child is really being abused," is alive and well.

I disagree.

• First of all, there have been too many men and women who have had their lives, reputations, careers and families destroyed after being falsely accused.  
• Secondly, increasing the number of reports with no rise in actual child abuse or neglect assumes no actual harm to the more than 4/5ths of those who are reported, when in fact, in addition to my first point, the stress is often so great even when the case is determined to be unsubstantiated after an investigation, that they end up having a life long panic attack every time the doorbell rings unexpectedly.  
• Thirdly, it encourages fraud and false reporting by lacking penalties for doing so, while being the ever loving excuse for over-riding the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution by being the only way that government agents can get into the house without just cause.  
• Not to mention, it overwhelms the child welfare system by having CPS Agents chasing shadows, when they should be spending their time protecting the kids who really are abused and neglected, thereby causing more to fall through the cracks.
• Plus, anybody with half a brain knows that there is no abuse or neglect necessary.  CPS Agents are frauds.  CPS can take your kid simply because they are cute, adoptable and you are an easy target, like poor, disabled or can't afford a good lawyer to fight the allegations.

A better solution would be to prosecute false accusers and educate mandated reporters on what child abuse really is.  Increase the quality of the calls and lower the number of falsely accused so that CPS Agents could spend more time doing what they should and protecting abused and neglected kids instead of attacking innocent families.