I concur.
Errr...
?????????????
I concur.
Maybe you should slow down, take a deep breath, and explain the background to us. Who is Katie? Who is the eight-year-old? Why is DHS involved? Why are two states involved? At what point is the process? There are a lot of freepers who might be able to help but we need more information.
This is the nature of CPS, sadly. They are simply fighting an unwinnable war. When they take a baby from it's family, it's probably an inappropriate removal 50% of the time (and they're fought on it at least 95% of the time, even by the worst parents you can imagine). When they don't take a child, they're on the hook for their failure to protect the child if anything goes badly after that. But, like any bureaucracy, they cannot and will not take themselves out of the equation ("for our benefit" and all that rot).
That is also why the boundaries are so vague. No set list of rules would be very effective, even when warranted (you could never list every set of circumstances where a kid should be removed without being vague), and again as with all bureaucracies, they want as much freedom to act as possible.
Sadly, they're now entrenched, and they'll have to fight to the end to show that "they're right"... otherwise, they'll end up with a tarnished reputation and lost resources for admitting they were wrong. If they fight, they at least have a chance at vindication... but of course, they're fighting you using your own money, not theirs (since government doesn't earn a dime or produce anything).
Good luck and Godspeed to you and yours in the face of this monstrosity called CPS.