Families

The County and the Court

Tom Ruff is a child protective services social worker who works in the North Central Region’s Court Intervention unit. That means he typically gets involved in cases once a front-line social worker investigating a report to the County’s Child Abuse Hotline has already visited the home and found evidence of abuse or neglect, prompting the County or law enforcement to remove children to protect them.

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Tom Ruff is a child protective services social worker who works in the North Central Region’s Court Intervention unit. That means he typically gets involved in cases once a front-line social worker investigating a report to the County’s Child Abuse Hotline has already visited the home and found evidence of abuse or neglect, prompting the County or law enforcement to remove children to protect them.

Then Ruff steps in.

His work is focused on discovering the nature of any suspected neglect or abuse, trying to figure out the family dynamics and the root causes of problems, and then trying to steer families into the right social services and structured programs to ameliorate the trouble. This is all with the goal of helping parents achieve a safe home and be reunited with their child. 

Ruff takes the case soon as possible after the children have been removed and, typically, placed with a relative, in foster care or in a temporary shelter, such as the County’s Polinsky Children’s Center. He has just two working days by law to get ready for a juvenile dependency court hearing in which the County may present its allegations of abuse or neglect and petition the Juvenile Court to keep children out of the home, if that’s what’s needed to keep the child safe.

The County can’t remove a child for more than two working days without a “true finding” of the County’s allegations by the Juvenile Court.

While these serious cases are more common than anyone would like, protective workers find only a small fraction of reports to the County’s Child Abuse Hotline actually represent cases of children in dangerous homes.

Of 38,602 reports to the Child Abuse line between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011, 1,666 resulted in the County petitioning the court to keep children out of the home to ensure their safety.

When Ruff steps in, he visits a home, talks to parents, talks to doctors and anyone else who can help him get to the bottom of the suspected abuse or neglect and the family dynamics. He also tries to identify extended family members or non-custodial parents who may be suitable caretakers for the child.

Of 3,592 children receiving out-of-home care in July 2011, the County was able to place 28 percent with a family member.

Sometimes things look like abuse, but they’re not, and if the child can’t tell you, that’s the hard part
-Tom Ruff, child protective services worker

Some parents Ruff meets are angry; some are remorseful but troubled by addiction or mental illness that prevents them from safely caring for their kids. Some have physically harmed their children; sometimes they haven’t done anything wrong and the allegations are deemed unfounded.

Every case is different, but Ruff’s open mind and non-adversarial stance help him get at the facts.

In one recent case, a baby had what appeared to be burn marks on his toe. As with most of their cases, Child Welfare Services was alerted through the Child Abuse Hotline. Exactly who called is not public information, but healthcare workers such as doctors are mandated reporters and must call if they suspect child abuse.

It turned out; the child actually had a skin disorder that was inflamed by his new shoes.

“Sometimes things look like abuse, but they’re not, and if the child can’t tell you, that’s the hard part,” Ruff said.

And when adults aren’t telling the truth, Ruff can only deal with the evidence he has. In another case, a 4-month-old child went to the hospital vomiting and exhibiting odd movements and behavior. Doctors found he had a bad skull fracture, a concussion and was bleeding from the brain. His parents both said the baby had not been out of their care, but absolutely nothing unusual had happened to him. He had just started acting sick.

Ruff talked to doctors, who could not explain the injuries through any illness or syndrome. The baby had certainly experienced head trauma, doctors said.

Tom’s report to the court would reflect the facts he found, including the parents’ assertion that nothing at all had happened to the baby.

“Good or bad, we have to tell the court,” Ruff said.

When Ruff finds evidence a child is in imminent danger at home, he will present that evidence to the court at the initial 48-hour detention hearing and petition for the County’s right to keep the child in foster care or some other placement outside the home. The Juvenile Court judge will also hear from court-appointed lawyers for the parent or parents and the child. 

“The Court generally errs on the side of caution, but it doesn’t take removing a kid from the home lightly either,” Ruff says.

Next: Path Toward Reunification