10.1177/1077559505274506CHILD MALTREATENT / Month XXXXross et al. / POLIC INVOLVEMENT IN CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES Police Involvement in Child Protective Services Inves- tigations: Literature Review and Secondary Data Analysis

This article examines the relationship of police and child pro-tective services (CPS) coinvolvement to the outcomes of child maltreatment investigations. It reviews practice and empiri-cal literature and conducts a secondary analysis of a na-tional CPS data set of CPS. Most sources argue that coordination of the two agencies improves investigations and benefits children and families. Yet, sources also report friction between these agencies, interference with each other’s job, and concerns that police involvement increases child removal. In the CPS case data, allegations were more likely to be judged credible when police also investigated and families were also more likely to receive various services. For neglect cases, multidisciplinary decision making, but not police involve-ment per se, was linked to child removal. Across studies, po-lice do not appear to hinder CPS effectiveness and may actually promote it. Their investigations should be coordinated in every community