Neither of those articles contained a shred of evidence to suggest that CPS will take your kids away from you on a whim.

Well, you just moved the goalposts from "what prompts a visit", past "what gets your kids taken away", all the way to "what gets your kids taken away on a whim".

I agree that CPS is extraordinarily unlikely to take your kids away "on a whim". And yet, that doesn't mean that innocent folks have nothing to fear from a CPS visit.

The first article clearly shows that CPS will visit for any report at all, no matter how bogus or bizarre. There are controls in place to thwart repeated harassment, but for a first report, they will definitely investigate because they are legally obligated to do so.

And since the original issue was whether you might get a visit for putting your kid in a cardboard box, the answer is plainly "yes".

The follow-on question is whether that visit, investigating a stupid, bogus report, might get your kids taken away. That is going to depend on the judgment of the CPS investigator. And the second article illustrates that those judgements are not always going to be evenhanded.

> Well, you just moved the goalposts from "what prompts a visit"

Fair point. I've just heard so many people make that argument (that your kids will be taken away by the government) that I filled in the blanks.

You're absolutely correct in terms of "getting a visit", and your links back that up.