Parents involved with child protective services (CPS) often face various challenges, including sociostructural marginalization, mental illness and difficulties in family relationships. Although their need for mental health services is generally acknowledged, the extant child welfare literature lacks studies on how CPS-involved parents may benefit from such services. In an attempt to address this gap, the current study seeks to explore clinicians' and parents' perspectives regarding the role of psychotherapy services (e.g. individual or conjoint counselling/therapy) for child welfare cases. Semistructured interviews were conducted with clinicians working with CPS-involved families and parents accused of child maltreatment. Thematic analysis of the interview data generated three themes: (1) psychotherapy as a place for safety and empathy, (2) psychotherapy as a place for challenge and (3) psychotherapy as a place for problem resolution. The findings suggest that psychotherapy services may benefit CPS-involved parents not only by offering much-needed emotional support and resources within sessions but also by facilitating parents' collaboration with CPS through their partnership with caseworkers outside of sessions. For child welfare practice, it is recommended that psychotherapy services be included from the outset of parents' CPS involvement to promote their psychological and relational well-being as well as their successful completion of CPS requirements. K E Y W O R D S psychotherapy, counselling, parents involved with child protective services, therapeutic intervention, therapy 1 | INTRODUCTION Child maltreatment is a pervasive concern in the United States, with an estimated 674 000 children victimized and the national victim rate reaching 9.1 per 1000 children in 2017 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2019). Upon the receipt of referrals alleging child abuse/neglect, child protective services (CPS) screens the referrals and then investigates the screened-in reports to ascertain whether child abuse or neglect has occurred, to assess the risks for child maltreatment and to determine the need for further intervention (USDHHS, 2019). While the specifics of CPS services vary by state, the collective vision is to assist families in ensuring their child's safety and well-being, with consideration given to how each family's experience of social and environmental challenges may have contributed to the occurrence of child maltreatment (Kyte, Trocmé, & Chamberland, 2013). The goal of CPS intervention, therefore, is to address not only problematic parenting but also familial and community-level risks through a wide variety of services, such as housing assistance, material/financial aid, medical care and social support (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2006; USDHHS, 2019). Given that the majority (77.6% in 2017) of all perpetrators of child maltreatment are parents of the victims (USDHHS, 2019), CPS intervention often includes services that specifically address parents' needs. In particular, the imp...

Although psychotherapeutic treatment (e.g., counseling and therapy) is often offered to clients involved with child protective services (CPS), the existing literature includes few voices of mental health clinicians regarding their work and clients in the child welfare system. The current study seeks to address this gap by exploring clinicians’ views on the issue of child maltreatment and CPS-involved parents’ parenting. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews revealed that clinicians acknowledged the strengths of CPS-involved parents as well as the challenges that may have made their parenting difficult. For strengths, clinicians identified parents’ desire to care for their child, motivation to improve their parenting, and commitment to their child. Identified challenges included a lack of parenting knowledge, substance use, and limited resources and support. Overall, clinicians in this study presented a balanced perspective that attended to both the “good” and the “bad” in their clients’ parenting. They viewed CPS-involved parents as more than the sum of their problematic parenting behaviors and understood incidents of child maltreatment within the parents’ contexts. At the same time, their interviews noted that a variety of individual and sociostructural challenges faced by CPS-involved parents must be addressed in order to resolve child maltreatment and prevent parents’ repeated involvement in the child protection system.

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