Child Protective Services Training

Target Population – Local district social services (LDSS) Child Protective Services (CPS) and child welfare caseworkers, supervisors, and administrators and provider agency Family Assessment Response (FAR) staff as well as OCFS CWCS staff involved in FAR.

Child Protective Services Response Training (CPSRT)

Training Type: Classroom, WBT

Description: Child Protective Services Response Training (CPSRT) is a specialized training program designed to build upon foundational skills and knowledge that enables CPS workers to: 

  • Conduct thorough investigations on reports of alleged abuse and maltreatment, 

  • Accurately assess safety and risk, and 

  • Control for safety and reduce risk and support child well-being and permanency. 

Specifically, this training provides specialized preparation to child welfare caseworkers who are assigned CPS duties. Participation in CPSRT would follow participation in the Child Welfare Foundations Program (CWFP) and the CPS Bridge Training. 

The training will be delivered at the Human Services Training Center (HSTC) and scheduled so it closely follows the CWFP schedule. 

There will be 26 offerings of each of these seven-day trainings, which may be delivered in groups of up to 30 people, unless a larger number is approved by OCFS for a total of 182 days of training. 

Topics for this training will include, but not be limited to: 

  • The legal foundation of the CPS response to reports of abuse or maltreatment 

  • Integrating CPS/Family Assessment Response (FAR) concepts and techniques into the CPS response 

  • Incorporating critical thinking skills and other investigatory techniques into the initial response to reports of abuse/maltreatment 

  • Making safety decisions while assessing injuries 

  • Observing and interviewing children throughout the CPS response 

  • Planning and initiating contact with caregivers 

  • Developing, implementing, and monitoring safety plans 

  • Assessing risk 

  • Making abuse/maltreatment determinations 

  • Solution-focused practice 

  • Pre-petition legal interventions 

  • Article 10 petitions 

  • Post-petition and settlement process 

  • Fact finding hearings and evidentiary rules 

  • Dispositional hearings and orders 

  • Testifying in Article 10 proceedings 

Other topics as needed will be added to reflect changes in legislation, policy, procedures, CPS/FAR implementation, Office for Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV) Mandated Training for CPS and CONNECTIONS. 

CPS Bridge

Training Type: Classroom

Description: This activity includes training to bridge the knowledge and experience of trainees who have completed the Child Welfare Foundations Program (CWFP) and to prepare them to attend and participate in Child Protective Services Response Training (CPSRT). There will be 26 offerings of each of these 1.5-day trainings, which may be delivered in groups of up to 30 people, unless a larger number is approved by OCFS for a total of 39 training days. 

This training will include topics focusing on risk and the Risk Assessment Profile (RAP) as well as foundational legal content necessary to prepare trainees to attend Child Protective Services Response Training (CPSRT). Two attorney trainers, provided by another vendor, will cover legal content during one day of this training. 

Supervising CPS

Training Type: Classroom

Description: This activity will provide training for supervisors who have successfully completed Child Protective Services Response Training (CPSRT) and KEYS Core or KEYS Essentials Training. This training will foster supervisors’ ability to coach, support, and monitor child protective services caseworkers through the CPS investigative process, which includes: information gathering, safety and risk and needs assessments, determination decisions, and family court involvement. The course will build supervisors’ ability to administer the work of a CPS unit, provide support to CPS caseworkers and to develop the knowledge and skills of CPS casework staff so they can conduct effective and efficient assessments and investigations in accordance with the NYS Child Welfare Practice Model. This training meets the requirements specified in Chapter 525 of the Laws of 2006, which enacted specific training requirements for the CPS supervisors. 

There will be four offerings of each of these four-day trainings, which may be delivered in groups of 25 people, unless a larger number is approved by OCFS for a total of 16 days. 

Course content will build on skills and knowledge developed during Child Welfare Foundation Program training, CPSRT and KEYS Supervisory training. 

Current topics for this training include: 

  • KEYS Model of 21st Century Child Welfare Supervision 

  • Child Welfare Supervisory Competencies 

  • Developing a Working Agreement 

  • Supervising caseworkers’ use of critical thinking skills 

  • Assessing workers’ use of critical thinking skills 

  • The Discovery Dialogue 

  • Supervising for Quality: Comprehensive Assessments and Thorough Investigations 

  • Utilizing Group Supervision to supervise for quality 

  • Using reflective dialogue to supervise for quality 

  • Critical Thinking about Legal Decisions and Family

Special Topics

Training Type: Classroom

Description: Special Topics will provide focused training on topics that will meet the identified needs of LDSS Child Protective Services (CPS) staff and to continue to provide classroom support. 

There will be two offerings of each of these one-day trainings which may be delivered in groups of up to 25 people, unless a larger number is approved by OCFS for a total of two days of training. 

Topics and offerings will be determined in consultation with OCFS, based on the assessment of local district needs, and will be implemented upon approval of OCFS. 

Courses to Support Family Assessment Response

Training Type: Classroom/WBT

Description: This activity includes the facilitation of courses related to Family Assessment Response (FAR). All of the courses are skill-based trainings which provide and increase the knowledge and skills of caseworkers, supervisors, administrators, and other key stakeholders to provide an effective two track CPS response to families reported to the Statewide Central Register (SCR) for maltreatment.  

FAR Courses delivered under this activity include: FAR Process and Practice, Solution-Focused FAR Practice, Assessing Safety and Risk in FAR, Supervising to a Practice Shift in FAR, Advanced Supervision in FAR and Increasing the Voice of Children and Youth. 

The courses, Advanced Supervision in FAR and Increasing the Voice of Children and Youth are standalone courses and may be delivered in any order with other FAR courses. 

There will be 26 offerings of each of these one-day trainings which may be delivered in groups of up to 25 people, unless a larger number is approved by OCFS for a total of 26 training days. 

Topics may include: 

  • Assessing Safety and Risk 

  • Critical thinking 

  • Overview of the practice frameworks for Family Assessment Response (FAR) 

  • Best practices for FAR 

  • Principles, values, and practices of solution-focused practice 

  • Increasing children and youth participation in FAR

In-Service Training for CPS Caseworkers and Supervisor

Training Type: Classroom

Description: YRI will work with OCFS Regional offices and LDSS staff to assess the training needs of the CPS workforce. Upon completion this assessment, YRI will compile the results and coordinate trainings based on the results including topics identified, the level of training needed, and schedule. Training will be provided by qualified experts, subcontracted with YRI. These professionals will develop curriculum and facilitate these trainings. 

These trainings will meet the requirements specified in Chapter 525 of the Laws of 2006, which enacted specific In-Service training requirements for the CPS workforce. 

There will be 25 offerings of one-day trainings per offering which may be delivered in groups of up to 25 people, unless a larger number is approved by OCFS for a total of 25 days of training. 

Topics identified in collaboration with OCFS may include: 

  • Interviewing Skills 

  • Critical Thinking 

  • Addressing Challenging Client Behavior 

  • Crisis Debriefing 

  • Practice 

  • Identifying and Engaging Family Resources 

  • Mental Health (Disorders and Services) 

  • Poverty (Culture/Effects/Engaging Families/Gangs) 

  • Sensitivity (Judgement/Compassion) 

  • Diversity/Cultural Sensitivity 

  • Assessing and Engaging the Family Network 

  • Working with Immigrant and Migrant Families 

  • Discussing Immediate and Impending Danger with Families and Next Steps 

  • Effective De-escalation 

  • Legal Issues 

  • Chronic Neglect 

  • Using the Risk Assessment Profile (RAP) 

  • Substance Use Disorder 

  • Professionalism and Boundaries 

  • Mapping and Improving the Flow of Casework 

  • Trauma (Effects of/Trauma-Informed Approaches) 

  • Impact of Child Maltreatment and Abuse 

  • Adolescent Development: Risk and Protective Factors 

  • Establishing Visitation Plans 

  • Impact of Bullying and Cyberbullying 

  • Developmental Disabilities 

  • Domestic Violence 

  • Selecting the Right Program Choice 

  • From Assessment to Safety Planning 

  • Conducing Crucial Conversations 

  • Sex Abuse/Sex Trafficking 

  • Other

Co-Train Mandated Domestic Violence Training for CPS with OPDV

Training Type: Other

Description: This activity will provide skills-based training for new and experienced child protective services staff and supervisors. YRI trainers will co-train mandated domestic violence training with training staff from the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV). There will be up to 18 training days for this delivery. 

Topics that YRI and OPDV Trainers will co-train include: 

  • Identifying Domestic Violence 

  • Preparing for a CPS Response to Known or Suspected Domestic Violence 

  • Interviewing and Understanding the Non-offending Parent 

  • Understanding the Children’s Experience 

  • Assessing Immediate or Impending Danger of Serious Harm 

  • Interviewing and Engaging the Domestic Violence Offender 

  • Making a Safety Decision and Developing Safety Plans 

  • Making the Determination 

  • Assessing and Responding to Domestic Violence