What is it to "work services" in a CPS case?
Your Child Protective Services case is about the best interest of your Child. Whatever the risk that caused CPS to step into your life and remove your Child, whether you agree with CPS or not, there are clearly some things that CPS and possibly the Court are going to want to see change before your Child comes home.
CPS will tell you that they want you to "work services". CPS talks in a strange language that doesn't have much meaning outside their offices. To "work services" is to participate in classes offered by CPS on specific topics such as safe and appropriate parenting techniques, safe and appropriate discipline, and maintaining a safe and appropriate living environment. Services may also include drug counseling, drug rehabilitation, drug testing, personal, group or family counseling, education about special medical needs of your Child, education about community resources, or a number of other things that help you to safely and appropriately care for your Child.
When you are engaged in your "Service Plan" and taking the things you learn to heart, when you can show the people whose job it is to look out for your Child while you are apart that you understand and use the lessons you are asked to learn, you are making progress. But remember, the case is not about you, but about your Child. When you make progress, your progress is toward looking out for the best interest of your Child.
When you work your services, always do so thinking, "How does this help me provide for the best interest of my Child?" When you are focused on your Child's needs, and not your rights, you can see the end of your case with your Child back home. If you work your services worried about your rights, you will probably never really understand why "services" are necessary in the first place, and there is very little chance your Child will come home. The Court will not return a Child to a parent who cannot provide for the best interest of the Child. The work you do while working your services will show the Court what you can do for your Child. You give your Child the best chance to remain part of your family by working hard and keeping your Child's best interest at heart.
