The social service department is only one of at least 15 potential components of a comprehensive protective services system which encompasses legal services, schools, public health, law enforcement, the courts, and physicians. This paper lists 17 criteria of effective child protective services in the department of social services, as it functions as the central component of an interagency system of child protective services. A child protection council is described as one of the most effective groups in the community for providing communitywide education, coordination, and planning for addressing the problems of child abuse and neglect. In the face of increasing workloads, low budgets, and rapid turnover of workers, this paper suggests how protective services can be organized to fulfill its protective functions of intake, treatment, case coordination, and prevention. Other issues discussed are the legal role of protective services, the importance of a community inventory of currently available child protection services and resources, and steps in making protective services manageable. 8 references.