Child Abuse Prevention And Treatment Act (CAPTA)

“ The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) … defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum: "Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation"; or
 "An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm."” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and Administration for Children & Families, "Definitions of Child Abuse

The 1874 case of Mary Ellen, was the first criminal case to be tried in the courts regarding abuse of a child (Traux, 2013). The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 1974, was a major turning point in the fight to help protect children. The enactment of CAPTA helped provide federal funding to states in an effort to help with the identification, prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect (National Low Income Housing Coalition (2014). There have been several amendments to CAPTA over the years to help with how the CPS organization operates.

Yet many people still aren't aware that the law exists or how it affects them. In fact, a 2014 APA survey found that more than 90 percent of Americans were unfamiliar with the mental health parity law (American Psychological Association). Many people might end up not receiving the appropriate therapeutic services that they need because their medical insurance does not cover it. However, medical insurance does cover some of it. For example, for physical therapy, some insurers require a referral from a doctor. People consider physical therapy to be a necessity as long as it's prescribed by a physician and significantly improves physical functions that were limited because of a disease, illness or surgical procedure. On the other hand, others do not consider physical therapy to be necessary for someone whose condition is getting worse or if the patient is not showing improvement. (Holmes). Many people question and ask themselves why doesn’t my insurance cover these needed services, and what can I do in order for my insurance to fully cover it? Unfortunately, many mental health provders do not accept insurance, more than likely because of the cost. Many insurance

Effectiveness of the CAPTA policy has been evaluated in different studies which have established how programs and initiatives to protect children from abuse have succeeded in fulfilling the goals of the law. Different approaches have been taken to ensure that child abuse prevention is successful. According to Rivara & Johnston (2013), for child protection initiatives and programs to work the agencies have to adopt primary public health strategies such as educational campaigns that are universal and are evidence based. The agencies also are required to undertake home visits and educational programs that have prevention focus and reach the target populations who are parents with children with risk of child abuse. I agree with this study because

Health as a whole is determined by the quality of life, as well as an individuals’ ability to create personal positive social and physical environments. These environments include homes, schools, workplaces and the community as a whole. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2003), the social determinants of health are conditions in which people live, work, and grow, where these factors are influenced by money, power and available resources. There are five main aspects of social determinants: economic stability, social/community health, general health, education, and the surrounding built environment, where each determinant refers to multiple key issues. These determinants commonly affect health, the functioning of people, their quality of life, as well as social, economic and physical risks. Examples of social determinants include:

Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, through action or failure to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. According to The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, as amended by the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010, at a minimum, child abuse and neglect is defined as, "Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation"; or "An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm (Children 's Bureau, 2010)." The law recognizes a child as being any person who is under the age of 18. The law is broken into 2 sections, and each section treats the idea of child maltreatment in different ways. Criminally, those who abuse children are able to be arrested and prosecuted in court. Civil statutes say that people who suspect a child of being abused are mandated to identify and report it.

There are federal, state, county, and even tribal laws that have been put into place to protect both the client and the human service worker. Some are more of a guiding tool for human service workers, while some laws are designed to protect the client in a wide variety of ways. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) was originally enacted in January 1974 to require agencies to assess, investigate, and provide treatment, and prosecution in order to receive federal funding.

According to our textbook, Public Law 93-247 which is the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), came into effect on January 31, 1974. This law is regards to childhood maltreatment. The law implemented the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect. Central agencies needed to be created in each individual state. The central agencies had to have legal authority to investigate and be able to prosecute cases that involved abuse and neglect. The States also had to develop their own definitions, policies, procedures, and laws dealing with child abuse and neglect. With the amendment of 2003, states needed to include foster care, adoption, abandoned infants and family violence protection into their services.

The intended consequence of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) is to provide federal financial assistance to all states. The funding is for the establishment of effective programs that support the prevention, assessment, investigation, prosecution and treatment proceedings (Jeff, 2012). In other words, it is for the well-being and safeguarding of all children. However, there are unintended consequence too. For example, some children who suffer the effects of child abuse and neglect will still fall within the cracks of the system. According to the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, (2014, p. 351) policy-affiliated research continues to be severely underdeveloped such as, mandatory reporting, child abuse record keeping, issues relating to constitutional rights and the use of family foster care as an alternative to traditional foster care. Due to these cracks thousands of children are affected annually.

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) is an act that requires parity or equality between mental health treatment and medical/surgical treatment covered by private and public insurers with over 50 employees. That means that if an insurance covers mental health issues they can’t impose more stringent limits and financial requirements than medical/surgical coverage. The act was signed into law in 2008 by President George W. Bush. Before the act was signed into law, mental health care was not as affordable or accessible for individuals. (United States Department of Labor, 2016)

The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was enacted on October 3, 2008 as sections 511 and 512 of the Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008. MHPAEA amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act), and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Federal Register, 2013). The MHPAEA is an extension of the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, which prohibited annual or aggregate lifetime financial limits on mental health coverage by addressing other restrictions, such as limits on outpatient visits or inpatient days (DOL, 2010). MHPAEA expands parity requirements to treatment limitations, financial requirements, and in- and out-of-network covered benefits (Smaldone, 2010). It also expands the opportunity of mental health parity requirements at the federal level and includes substance use disorders within its scope. Prior to 1996, health insurance coverage for mental illness had historically been less generous than that of other physical illness (Sarata, 2011). Mental health parity is a response to this disparity in insurance coverage, and generally refers to the concept that health insurance coverage for mental health services should be offered equally with covered medical and surgical benefits (Smaldone, 2010).

The social determinants of health are factors that can affect a person’s physical or mental health, A few examples of these factors are; Unemployment, Housing, Education, Lifestyle factors, Transport, Access to health services etc. These types of social factors can lead to insecurity, stress, anxiety, isolation and lack of control of home life, work and health status. These factors contribute to the development

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, better known as CAPTA yields federal financial support in hopes of aversion, evaluation, inspection and prosecution. CAPTA also takes hand in researching and investigating child abuse cases, funding what it takes to uncover these cases and most importantly what meets the minimum guidelines for child abuse, neglect and maltreatment. There are quite a few citizens that are firmly behind this law and appreciate it, those being concerned, well informed parents, loving and authoritative parents whereas there will always be those few citizens who don’t recognize the value in this law, those people being permissive, neglectful

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) was introduced in the 1970’s, but was reauthorized most recently in 2004. CAPTA’s main focus is on the prevention of maltreatment and neglect of youth. This act clearly defines maltreatment and neglect so that each state can authorize what sort of consequences should be placed on abusers. Although each state has their own laws against child maltreatment, CAPTA outlines what specifically counts as child abuse to ensure the safety of all children. In this policy, mothers who use drugs or alcohol are consider perpetrators and can be punished according to state laws if caught.

“The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels. The social determinants of health are mostly responsible for health inequities- the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries” (WHO, 2013).