The states that received F's are right on this one. In New York State (where I live), the child abuse and neglect laws are so oppressive that it is often difficult to know, or even trust, that a finding of abuse or neglect is truly genuine--Child Profective Services workers can produce a "indicated" finding and then possibly make that finding public, even though the finding was based on little evidence and on a great deal of interpretation. When dealing with families that might have issues with neglect (i.e, failing to clothe children appropriately), the issue may have more to do with their not being able to afford clothing, and making the subject public is tantamount to publicly punishing the poor. Moreover, as I indicate above, CPS and other social workers, in many states, have the right to declare parents abusive and/or neglectful on their own, with little reference to actual evidence. With regard to abuse and neglect, many families are assumed guily before proven innocent. Protecting confidentiality is an important part of helping families that might have issues with neglect and abuse--disclosing these issues could make abusive situations worse. Good for Utah for its low grade.

Just because you're a child advocacy group does not mean that you have all the answers, nor does it mean that you are not a moral society.
The "world" is not the author of all truth.

Years ago when I was married to my ex-wife, she gave my son (then 4 years old) Ipecac because he ate a cookie without permission. Later my ex-wife grabbed our son by his neck and held him under water out of her sudden anger. If you were to meet my ex-wife , you'd think she was the sweetest woman. Both of these cases were investigated by Child Protective Services. Both the child and my ex-wife admitted to the events however CPS said, "unsubstantiated abuse due to the lack of marks on the childs body". Both situations were life-threatening but ignored because they couldn't see any marks on the body. This was their comment even after they had learned that another boy had died in her care due to drowning. The CPS and the courts took compassion on her and never heard the boys side. She was really good at making herself look religious, innocent and a "changed" person. Yet they never performed any follow-up visits. The abuse continued and I had to systematically fight for custody. YES, the system needs an overhaul. Vote NO on ALL judges, send a message to our judicial system.

The greatest critics of CPS are those who have never worked in the system. CPS are not perfect and yes they make mistakes. Evidence can be extermely hard to get and medical evidence is not always supportive of abuse, which means it turns out to be he said she said. A good defense attorney can tear apart evidence and a case will fall flat. CPS workers are soft targets for the community. But the onus of good parenting lies with the parent, not CPS. We have come along way with CPS and unfortunately we have a long we to go. The irony is that Child Protection is a Community responsibility just not one agencies responsibilty. If a child is abused and goes unreported, then many people are at fault, not just one agency.

Gets a Z in in Child Abuse Policies

Utah is near the bottom in per student spending for education, and near the bottom when it comes to protecting children from abuse. Very interesting for a state that's always talking about how much value the people of that state put on family.

we reported a home with no food due to use of meth by the parents and told to mind our business basically. I disagree that the critics of the system don't know what they are talking about. we all need to get involved and be able to know when we report suspected abuse something will be done about it.

If the newspaper reported that Utahns were getting an F in not being stupid enough, as ranked by some liberal think-tank hippy group, you'd still have people begging our legislature to do something to get our grade up. Maybe it's time we start thinking for ourselves instead of just reacting to whatever the liberal media spits out to us...

Could someone please explain to my why there have been so many comments about the whole deal in Texas being about child abuse, but when you shine the mirror here on Utah, there aren't even a dozen people who feel compelled to comment about it? It just makes me wonder if the real issue in Texas wasn't more the issue of polygamy over child abuse. If not, why aren't more people concerned with cleaning up Utah's child abuse issues??

I think the people of Utah do more than "talk about" the value of families. However, sometimes it goes to the extreme of "I'll take care of my family and you take care of yours." This attitude toward self-reliance and privacy leads to the laws that protect privacy above the child's (or spouse's)safety.

I noticed the problem years ago when the penalty for killing a child was much less severe than for killing an adult.

When it comes to children, Utah ranks an F in almost everything. I have been a professional in social services, an expert in 4 countries, and find Utah to be one of the worst in the World. They refuse to pay workers anything to live on, they hire mostly kids just out of college (must be a Utah college too) or those with no professional training. Those who are well trained leave the state to find a job that pays more than $10 an hour. So incompetence of the workers is part of the problem. Another is that for the most part they refuse to hire people with experience outside of Utah. (I know several well qualified workers who can't find a job in Utah, often told they are over qualified). Another problem is the review process of cases, Utah uses citizens for review who are not trained in the field. They never question case workers or administrators on cases, thus there is never anyone making sure CPS staff are properly working each case. It is not really the policy that is the main problem, it is the actual application of basic social work skills and common sense.