Families avoid CYF if they can afford to, because the agency mixes two distinct and contradictory roles: provider of family support and investigator of maltreatment. Accepting resources means accepting the agency’s authority to remove your children. This is an invasive, terrifying trade-off that parents with other options are not likely to choose. Poor and working-class families feel forced to trade their rights to privacy, protection from unreasonable searches, and due process for a chance at the resources and services they need to keep their children safe.
