This is absolutely true. In the US there are so many situations that have gone south, that CPS and the courts have an almost learned reflex to never give breaks. These cases could be physical child abuse, or sex abuse, and could even go all the way up to death. As a kind of 'prototypical' example of what I'm talking about, Google Kamari Gholston [0].

And when these sorts of things happen, it never fails, all the 'parental rights advocates' out there that were previously pushing to be more lenient with parents scatter. And the judge and CPS are left holding the bag. (Some of the 'parental rights advocates' even flip flop, and now call for heads to roll, because now all of a sudden they are child welfare advocates. :eye roll:)

So now the judge, the police and CPS have not only the political leaders and the general population asking uncomfortable questions, but CNN and Fox News trucks outside their homes asking questions as well. For the judge and the CPS workers, their careers are ruined not only locally, but nationally. There's no coming back from that.

Well the other judges and CPS workers see what happens, and are that much less likely to give a single mother a break in the future for example. And it just iterates and escalates with each tortured, raped, or murdered (or all three) child.

[0] - https://www.invisiblechildren.org/2022/06/23/kamari-gholston...