The search for little Isabel Celis continues. Tucson Police disclosed that Sergio Celis, Isa’s father, met with Child Protective Services late last week and that he agreed to a voluntary separation from his two sons. The boys continue to live at home with their mother Rebecca.

Police reported they developed information that raised concerns as to the boy’s safety and they contacted the CPS agency. Within a day, this was clarified and restated in a slightly different way – law enforcement stated it is routine for CPS to be called when any child goes missing, so CPS was involved from the beginning of the case. I worked for CPS as an investigator for years, both here and in Florida, and don’t recall ever being called in at that point.

If CPS was involved from the beginning of the Celis Case, it is because there was a concern that something about the situation law enforcement found concerned Police about the home’s safety, the family, or frequent visitors to the home. It may not have been concerns regarding the child’s parents, but perhaps concerns that a relative who visits has a serious arrest record, may use drugs or is suspicious in some way.

The law agency may discern that the parents are not protecting the child/children in the home from this individual or individuals – either because they can’t, will not, or do not show awareness this individual is potentially dangerous.

CPS gets reports from law enforcement and they are taken by a central hotline in Phoenix. Generally, CPS is called if let’s say, the Police or Sheriff arrest parents and there is no relative who can or is able to take custody of the children while the parent is incarcerated. They also call if they are at a home due to a drug situation, which could be parents and/or others selling drugs from within the child’s residence.

Law enforcement typically will call if they stop a vehicle due to DUI and the mother and/or father is driving while intoxicated or under the influence of recreational drugs and the minors are in the vehicle. There are other reasons, but generally it is because the child/children are determined to be hurt, injured, sick/ill, neglected and exposed to dangerous people, or are at risk of grave injury or harm due to the caretaker’s actions…or the home environment is so chaotic, dirty and unsanitary there is a serious concern for the child/children’s welfare.

Domestic violence situations are also ones where CPS is commonly called, if the violence is in the child’s home between his/her primary caregivers and/or the parents allow others in the home who engages in violence which could potentially harm the minor – that is a failure on the parent’s part to protect.

CPS and law enforcement are partners, each with defined responsibilities and access to different types of records and tools, skills and abilities. The two agencies pool their resources.

Up until about 2007, CPS workers were unable to access information on criminal activity or records, outside of general websites…where the persons may be identified by name and date of birth, but not by social security information so the agency would be able to verify it is the same person.

Due to a change in the law made by the legislature, CPS was given permission to call Department of Public Safety to get information. The number of requests was limited and the time for DPS to answer could be two hours, several hours or days or weeks later…initially. It was a work in progress.

In about 2009/2010, the Agency was allowed its own access to DPS records after receiving training as to confidentiality. No training or material was provided on how to read the records or understand them, what the codes meant and how to navigate the site. That was a matter of trial and error for each worker. In government, resources may slowly come, equipment arrives – but training on how to use the resources/equipment may not be available for months. Such is life in government and especially in social welfare agencies that are typically not funded to provide extensive or rapid training.

If you are interested in the law, as it applies to parental abuse/neglect of children, you can examine Arizona’s law at http://www.azleg.gov/arizonarevisedstatutes.asp?title=13. Title 13, Title 13 – Criminal Code.

However and whoever responds is written into our laws, as made and modified by our State Legislators. Below are some areas of the law that address children. It is Chapter 36, Family Offenses, that specifically addresses family offenses…these are the areas that delineate what CPS could be involved in. It’s easy to go to the ARS (Arizona Revised Statutes) website, just copy and paste the address above into your browser.

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The next article will address possible  reasons why Sergio Celis can not live at home.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2012 at 11:40 am and is filed under Tucson Child Welfare News and Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.