Child Abuse And Neglect : The Media, Influenced Government Policies

Current legislation is the result of The children Act 1989 which was brought in to ensure that all people who work with children worked together and was clear about their responsibility’s and knew how to act if allegations of child abuse were made.Following the death of Victoria Climbie in the year 2000 an independent inquiry highlighted many problems with how reports of neglect and child abuse were dealt with and found that vulnerable people in society were not being safeguarded.The Laming report led to the governments Every Child Matters paper and The Children Act 2004. In the last year this has now been renamed Every

Child Act 1989- “the Children Act 1989 aimed to ensure that the welfare of the child was paramount, working in partnership with parents to protect the child from harm” http://www.careandthelaw.org.uk/eng/b_section2 appendix 3

Costin, Lela. (1996). The Politics of Child Abuse in America. Oxford, New York: Published by Oxford University Press. Retrieved from Kaplan University’s library at: http://books.google.com/books?id=B70rt3SyhtkC&pg=PA40&dq=Effects+of+child+abuse+in+America&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bpJ1UrbkOvLdsATO54DwAw&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Effects%20of%20child%20abuse%20in%20America&f=false.

Policies and procedures for safeguarding and child protection in England and Wales are the result of the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004 carried more changes that affected the way the child protection system is structured and organized works here in the United Kingdom and so affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.

Jill Lepore’s New Yorker article Baby Doe: A political history of tragedy provides documented history of child abuse in the U.S. that date back to colonial times. She illustrated tragic cases Massachusetts Child Protective Services had been confronted with and gave a synopsis of the challenging history the Department of Children and Families.

1. The Children Act 1989 - 2004 is the most relevant legislation for safeguarding children and young people’s welfare. It was first made to give boundaries and support for local authorities for the welfare of children. The act then also made changes to the law that are regulated for children and their safety if they are in foster homes, adoption agencies, babysitting services and also handling childcare crimes and crimes against children. The children act’s main purpose is to ensure that the UK is a safer for children and young people and improve their wellbeing. It provides support and help to children of all ages, and backgrounds, and if they have a

In recent times safeguarding of children has once again come under spotlight with cases such as Madline McKan and the horrific murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. Prior to this the Children’s act of 1984 and updated 2004 version highlighted that all professionals have an obligation to report suspected abuse. There was a public inquiry in 2000 to address the failure of the law which was not upholding the protection of vulnerable children. There was changes to the legislation and the government set up The Every Child Maters (ECM) initiative. This works in line with current legislation Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 Act. This Act authorised guidance on how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in accordance with the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004. All organisations must have the succeeding policies and procedures:

Assess strategies and methods used to minimise the harm to children, young people and their families where abuse is confirmed (M3). Justify responses where child maltreatment or abuse id suspected or confirmed, referring to current legislation and policies (D2)

This act aims to simplify the laws that protected children and young people in the UK. This makes it clear to all who work with children what their duties are and how they should work together in the event of allegations of child abuse.

The current child protection system is based on the Children Act 1989, which was introduced in an effort to reform and clarify the existing laws affecting children. The Children Act 1989 gave every child the right to protection from abuse and exploitation and the right to inquiries to safeguard their welfare. Its central tenet was that children are usually best looked after within their family. The act came into force in England and Wales in 1991 and - with some differences - in Northern Ireland in 1996. The key principle

The main points of legislation that support the safeguarding of children are the Children Act 1989, Children Act 2004 and the Childcare Act 2006. The Children Act in 1989 set out principles to guide the work of local authorities and courts and also defined ‘significant harm’ and a child ‘in need’ of intervention. The Children Act 2004 provides the legal basis for children’s services set out in the Every Child Matters: Change for Children document.

For 30 years, advocates, program administrators, and politicians have joined to encourage even more reports of suspected child abuse and neglect. Their efforts have been successful, with about three million cases of suspected child abuse having been reported in 1993. Large numbers of endangered children still go unreported, but a serious problem had developed: Upon investigation, as many as 65 percent or the reports now being made are determined to be "unsubstantiated", raising serious civil liberties concerns and placing a huge burden on investigative staffs.

By the year 1967, all U.S. states had child abuse reporting laws. “Child abuse reporting laws and enhanced awareness of child abuse produced an increase in intervention” (Myers, 2013). As reporting laws came into affect, more and more cases of child abuse and neglect were shown. By the mid 1970s, over 60,000 child abuse cases were reported and the extremely high rate of children in foster care alarmed government officials. In 1980, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act (AACWA) was passed. This act required every state to make reasonable efforts in keeping children with their families, and when removing the child was not avoidable, the child was required to have a plan to be placed back in the home or have their parents’ rights revoked. For the children whom returning home was not an option, Congress offered financial incentives for adoption. This effort to preserve the families was a main objective of AACWA. An influential investigation pertaining to this was done by Henry S. Mass and Richard E. Engler, as explained by Sribnick (2011). They concluded that many children were living a majority of their childhood years in foster care and institutions. Their findings showed that if a child stayed in foster care for more than a year and a half, it was not likely that he or she would ever be reunited with his or her family or be adopted. In response to this, the Child Welfare League of America lobbied for child welfare workers to consider

Every year an approximate 139,000 cases of child abuse and neglect are reported in Ohio, and 72,000 are thoroughly investigated (Ohio's Children 2012). Although some might think this number is high, it is believed that the number of actual child abuse cases would

This research will assess the role of the media related to child sexual abuse and argues that the media has been very essential to the job of placing the problem of the Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) in the attention of the public and the political agenda. The media plays a huge role in defining what is “normal” and what is “deviant” in society, therefore contributing to what the definitions are, and what it is not, suggested what is child abuse. Whilst knowing that the media’s portrayal of CSA some have negative consequences for their families and the children. The media has a way and has the power to twist and manipulate a topic however they want, even if the public were to agree or disagree on the subject. However, as a case of