Child Protection Worker/ Investigation & Family Services

"There is no such thing as an average day."

Each decision will somehow affect a child's life.

A manager of intake and investigations at FACS-Elgin is responsible for assisting in developing policies, liaising with the public and supervising a team of child protection workers that collectively respond to every case reported to the Society.

The manager is in constant contact with the central screener who initially compiles information from a person reporting a child at risk. Together with the screener, the manager considers the information received, if necessary compares it to similar reports on that family and finally, measures it against an eligibility spectrum.

Has abuse, neglect or abandonment occurred? Is the child at risk? Can the alleged incident be verified? Is this an isolated incident or do previous reports show a pattern of behaviour? All these questions are considered before deciding on an investigation plan.

The course of action that the team of investigators chooses not only depends on the quality but the quantity of information received. If a first time report doesn't fall into the spectrum of eligibility, the family will likely be referred to some social service like Moms and Tots, or a parenting skills group. But, if a number of calls have been made about the same family, then the decision to bump the case up into the eligibility spectrum and begin an investigation would be made. That is why it is important for the public to abide by their duty to report.

Every time you have a concern about a family you need to call us. The public needs only to inform FACS-Elgin about what they see or hear. The Investigations Team will make the difficult decision of whether a child is or is not at risk of being abused, neglected or abandoned.

We may not go out and investigate every file, but an action is taken in each report that is made to the society, even if it is just reviewing the information against the spectrum.