SAN ANTONIO – Child Protective Services received 24,110 reports of abuse and neglect in Bexar County this fiscal year, leaving an enormous workload for CPS investigators and staff.
Currently, Bexar County has 175 Child Protective Services investigators.
“There are families out there that don't have families that care about them, and they're in situations where the people who are supposed to love them most are the ones that are abusing and neglecting them,” said Andrea Tucker, a CPS investigator. “It kind of makes it worthwhile to go out and be able to help these kids.”
A KSAT crew was granted access to tag along with Tucker for the day, as she looked into reports of neglect and abuse. She made several unannounced visits, including tracking down a mother accused of assaulting her daughter, and trying to locate a teen runaway.
Tucker said she is juggling 15 to 20 cases at any given time.
“We're here to keep families together,” Tucker said. “We're willing to work with people, if they're willing to work with us, and our main priority is just to keep kids safe.”