There are two basic strategies or plans that Child Protection Service (CPS) uses as a way to manage child protection services; the formal plan that covers continued safety and the immediate protective strategy that becomes necessary if they find that a child is in immediate danger. If immediate protection is necessary, then it will normally be recognized during the initial visit with the family. Once it has been determined that a child is indeed in danger, all other activities as they relate to the intervention will be put on hold. CPS then has the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the child once intervention continues.

The formal safety strategy will usually happen during or at the end of the first assessment, after all of the pertinent family information has been taken and analyzed. This formal plan is written on a document and it helps to recognize any foreseeable dangers; it lists child safety products, services and childcare providers.

The two plans have one major difference; the formal child protection plan only gets put into place once all of the full and complete information has been gathered on the child and family. The immediate protective strategy is put into place after only getting a limited amount of information that was disclosed at the initial encounter.

Some feel that there should be additional provisions added to the ones already in use. They believe that safety care management and intervention should be provisional; that it should refer to specific actions and arrangements that CPS may take at the present time based upon current threats to the child’s safety, or if there is not a sufficient childcare provider available to ensure protection.

Under this kind of arrangement, the provisional care stays in place while the Child Protection Service searches for a more suitable, stable and permanent living arrangement for the endangered child. Many believe that in order for this to work you would have to give protective responsibility to child care providers and offer them child protection training. If none of this is appropriate to the case, then they may have to look outside the child’s home and family for additional permanency options.