The programs and services provided by CPS are intended to protect children from abuse, neglect and exploitation. Current services encompass responding to emergencies involving the well being of children. They are aimed at preserving or maintaining families, the reunification of families, adjudication, assistance with adoptions and intervention-type services. There are 592 licensed foster family homes in Riverside County. The majority of these licensed foster homes will accommodate children from ages two to seventeen years, with some homes accommodating infants up to twenty-three months.
Social workers are traditionally devoted and overworked.
There are as many as 40,000 case referrals a year made to the Riverside Juvenile Court. One-half of these referrals turn out to be unsupported. Approximately 2,000 - 3,000 petitions a year are heard by the juvenile court judges and commissioners. As a result, the CPS reorganization established new regions in 1997 according to school district boundaries and zip codes. The establishment of regions resulted in some redistribution of existing management and staff.