Family separation is the most extreme outcome. There is a long spectrum of stress and uncertainty between "CPS merely knocks on your door and leaves" and "Forcible family separation." You really don't want to land anywhere on that spectrum. Encounters with the government and law enforcement tend to escalate depending on how busy/belligerent/bored their agents are, so what might be a routine "checking up" today can snowball into a series of more and more serious encounters and harassment as time goes by.
I'm not really anti-CPS as much as I'm anti unnecessary involvement with unaccountable people who can wreck other people's lives.
> depending on how busy/belligerent/bored their agents are
Or on how caring, responsible, and capable they are. You're making a lot of assumptions about a lot of people.
People say these things casually but let me point out that it's not at all trivial: Demonization is the first step used by the right-wing to oppress and harm people: Democrats, liberals, LGBTQ (esp trans people), immigrants, FBI, CDC, any regulators, high-ranking government officials in national defense, government workers, city residents in blue states (when will the National Guard be sent in?), ...
The casual spread of such ideas, which makes them more insidious because few people notice their significance, is a big part of demonization.
I'm not really anti-CPS as much as I'm anti unnecessary involvement with unaccountable people who can wreck other people's lives.