There are many ways that CPS can become involved in your family’s life. A neighbor, or one of your child’s teachers, can report you or your spouse to the agency (sometimes with justified concerns, and sometimes with entirely falsified allegations). The police may get called to your home for an unrelated issue, and then decide once they’re there, that your children may be in danger, at which point they call a CPS worker to the scene. Or maybe it’s more serious – you’re pulled over for drunk driving and your kids are in the car.

Whatever the reason, once CPS has opened an investigation into your family, it’s doubtful that they’ll just pack up camp and leave without finding some way to insert themselves into your life. Even in the best cases, CPS workers like to exert some control, forcing parents to attend classes in order to keep their own children, like trick ponies performing for the system. If you’re curious about what kinds of requirements a CPS worker may have for you, here is a list of the most common requirements:

Parenting Classes:

One of the most common CPS requirements for parents is to have them take parenting classes. These classes are aimed at helping struggling moms and dads learn alternatives to physical discipline, coping skills for children’s difficult behaviors, and basic parenting strategies for when life goes off the rails (which is pretty much all the time when you have kids.)

Anger Management Classes:

These classes are usually assigned to parents who have difficulty managing their anger responses, and typically respond to frustration with dangerous behaviors. It could be breaking objects (like punching walls or smashing plates), making threats of physical violence, or even just extreme displays of rage (like screaming, stomping their feet, and slamming doors). The classes aim to help these parents cope with stress and disappointment in healthier ways.

Substance Abuse Counseling:

These classes are for parents who are addicted to something that is making life harder, both for them or their children. Substance abuse could mean either a drug problem, or alcohol addiction. Either way, substance abuse often goes hand in hand with poor money management, poor coping skills for stress, and poor life choices, all of which affect children directly. In extreme cases, children are neglected by parents who are either too drunk or too high to care for them properly. This counseling works to help them overcome their addiction, while addressing the root causes.

Counseling for Stress, Coping Skills, or Other Concerns:

Some parents struggle to cope with life’s challenges, even without the addition of substance abuse or violent anger thrown into the mix. For example, parents whose own childhoods were traumatic, and they now have great difficulty managing stress or handling adversity, which can make proper parenting extremely hard. These parents are told to get counseling to address their emotional challenges in the hopes that they’ll be better equipped to parent their children in future.

The kind of help you actually need!

We’ll be the first to admit that parenting is hard, and we could all use a little help. For parents who struggle with substance abuse, or uncontrollable anger, or even crippling anxiety, these classes can make a huge difference. However CPS rarely stops at trying to help you, never stepping gracefully aside when you no longer need them. And once they’ve inserted themselves into your family’s business, they’re extremely hard to get rid of.

Here at The Kronzek Firm, we understand that while some of these classes and counseling sessions might be very helpful, CPS prying into your private life is not! So if you’ve been contacted by CPS, call our skilled and experienced CPS defense attorneys at 866 766 5245 today. We are here to help you protect your rights, and keep your family safe from an intrusive and overreaching government.