I spoke with a friend and mentor Angela Clark, a former supervisor with Child Protective Services for Riverside County about her experience in social services for 20+ years. We spoke on the function that CPS holds in a child's life, the role of the Child and Family Team Meeting, and what preventing burn out can look like. If a child is removed from their home, it is because there is a significant safety risk to their life. There's a lot of stigma surrounding CPS and understandably so at times, but the function when followed through on, is truly to keep a child safe. It is a traumatic and life changing experience. I see the result of this process when working with my foster youth in the group home. There is also a large assumption that the field of Social Work is specific to CPS. Not true! Social Work is a HUGE field focused on supporting humans in their social, mental, emotional well being.