Child Abuse Prevention And Treatment Act

What is child abuse? From the word “abuse” we can understand that it is some sort of a maltreatment of a child, causing harm and damage both to his physical and psychological well-being. At the Federal level, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) describes child abuse and neglect 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.” Child abuse is a very substantial and widely spread problem in U.S. affecting children of any age, gender, race, background or income, with almost 3 million cases reported every year and on average, killing more than 4 children every day . The main issue of child abuse is that the abuser is usually someone a child loves or depends on (a parent, step-parent, sibling, coach, neighbor, etc.), who violates child’s trust putting personal interests first, therefore official numbers of how many children suffer maltreatment might be not accurate enough as remarkable amount of these cases go unreported. Each case of child abuse is unique, with a lot of individual factors involved, nevertheless, we can distinguish some of the common causes, such as poverty, lack of education, depression, mental or physical health problems, alcohol/drug addictions, social isolation, marital problems, insecure attachments between a parent and a child, etc.

In today’s society more and more children are experiencing the brokenness that comes alongside living in an abusive home. Child abuse has progressively become a widespread problem in the United States. Every day approximately five children die at the hands of an abuser, and every year more than three million reports of child abuse are made (Eads 2). The government has a system to assist those suffering from abuse, but with all the lacking factors, one wonders what beneficial help these children are receiving. As the numbers of children becoming victims of abuse are increasing, the valuable aspects of the child protection system are decreasing. Abuse and neglect are serious issues and impact children’s lives forever. The child protection system

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act or CAPTA, dictates that child abuse is defined as failure by a parent or caregiver that can cause a result of imminent risk of serious harm, death, physical, emotional or sexual abuse, or exploitation of a child under the age of 18 years (Paulk, 1999).

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.

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974 was originally created to protect a target population of children, under the age of 18, from child abuse and neglect; however, over the years this act has been amended and improved to protect a wider population, with many specific subpopulations, over the past 42 years. In the original text of the act, two specific populations are addressed with different goals: reducing the rate of child abuse in children under the age of eighteen, and improving the treatment of children who had been maltreated or neglected (National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2014). It is easy to see that this act and policies within it are aimed at protecting children specifically, yet looking only at the children,

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.

Child abuse and neglect incidence rates are approximately ten times higher than the incidence rates for cancer. The incident rates for child abuse and neglect are 40 children per 1,000 children every year. The incidence rates for cancer patients are 3.9 people per 1,000 people every year. According to Frank Putnam (2005), “We find an incidence rate for child abuse and neglect that is about ten times as high as the incidence rate for all forms of cancer…There is a multi-billion-dollar research base reliably renewed on an annual basis for cancer treatment and prevention. Nothing remotely similar to this exists for child abuse and neglect” (p. 1). The 2001 federal fiscal year budget was $3.74 billion for the National Cancer Institution.

Children can be victims of different types of maltreatment such as neglect, medical abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse (Maschi, Bradley, & Ward, 2009). “On average, nationally, there is a report of child maltreatment every 5 seconds, and child maltreatment is substantiated every

Within the United States, child maltreatment is becoming more and more commonly reported as there is over 3 million reports each year. Due to the constant increase of child maltreatment reports, society has become more aware of the issue, which has led to awareness campaigns. (Payne, 87). Even with societies’ knowledge of such abuse there are still serval child maltreatment cases that are not reported. The children that are victims of maltreatment pertains any sort of harm to the child whether it is by injury, neglect, physical, emotional, or even sexual abuse by someone who holds a major role in the child’s life, a parent or guardian figure (“What is Child Abuse”).

One of the first cases of child abuse occurred in 1871 in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen. The victim in this case was Mary Ellen Wilson, a nine-year old orphan. Mary Ellen performed household duties in the orphanage for her foster mother. According to Mary Ellen, her foster mother whipped her almost every day for speaking to people, wearing too many clothes, or any other act that the foster mother deemed inappropriate (“Illustration of a Social Worker”). Mary Ellen’s external bruises were evidence of physical abuse, and they gained the attention of nurse Etta Wheeler. With no social workers or child protection laws in place, nurse Wheeler was forced to consult Henry Bergh, a businessman at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or the SPCA. Bergh assisted Wheeler in finding a lawyer to fight for Mary Ellen’s protection (“Illustration of a Social Worker”). Eventually, with the lawyer’s help, Mary Ellen was removed from the home. Millions of children around the world have suffered, and are suffering, from issues similar to that of Mary Ellen. Physical child abuse is a problem that has drastically altered the lives of countless children. For this reason, people should be educated on this topic. The main causes of physical child abuse are financial hardships, substance abuse, and parents who were abuse as a child, and are merely repeating the cycle.

According to the United States Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), child abuse and neglect are defined at 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." This definition, according to the Children's Bureau of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, provides the minimum range of behaviors for abuse and neglect; but, each state may provide their own definition. However, focusing on neglect, the Child Welfare Information Gateway (2013) suggests neglect could include physical, medical, educational, or emotional needs of a child not being met. For example, in terms of physical neglect, a parent or caregiver may not feed a child food regularly which could result in

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was originally enacted on January 31 1974(US Government 2011). The act has been amended several time throughout history. It was recently amended on December 20 2010 (US Government 2011). The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act is also abbreviated as CAPTA. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act provides federal funding to states for the support of prevention, assessment, investigation, prosecution, and treatment activities (US Government 2011). It also helps provides grants to public agencies and nonprofit organizations. CAPTA also sets a definition of child abuse and neglect. Child abuse is defined by both state and federal laws. CAPTA defines child abuse 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” (State Statues 2014). CAPTA is very important because it is the first comprehensive legislation on child abuse and prevention. In the state of Alabama physical abuse is defined as Abuse’ means harm or threatened harm to the health or welfare of a child through: Non-accidental physical injury, Sexual abuse or attempted sexual abuse and Sexual exploitation or attempted sexual exploitation. This is defined by the Ala. Code 26-14-1(1)-(3). The definition of abuse differs from state to state. Different states have different ways

Child Maltreatment is still a problem plaguing children today, including children with disabilities, as it is a leading cause of serious childhood injuries and fatalities (Hibbard & Desch, 2007).Child maltreatment affects millions of children each year. In 2015, child protective service agencies received an estimated 4 million referrals involving approximately 7.2 million children and it was estimated that 683,000 of those children were victims of child maltreatment (U.S., 2017). Child maltreatment

Child Abuse: Child abuse and neglect are serious issues that affect thousands of Americans. While the duty to protect children lies with parents and the state, many state programs must abide by federal laws in order to receive federal funding. A major source of legislation that supports child welfare was passed in 1974 under the name Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). CAPTA provides federal funding to states in support of prevention, assessment, investigation prosecution and treatment activities. It also provides grants to public agencies and nonprofit organizations for demonstration programs and projects. CAPTA also helped establish the office of Child Abuse and Neglect which set forth the definition of child abuse and neglect. This substantial legislation paved the way for many modern child abuse laws.

On January 12, 1974, the federal government enacted its initial Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) in response to the prevention of child abuse and neglect incidents. The Act expanded and refined as it undergone several amendments through time. In 2010 the latest CAPTA was re-authorized incorporating several aspects of child prevention and repose to abuse and neglect. According to this act in 2008 states identified an estimated 772,000 children as survivors of child abuse and neglect. CAPTA provides a grant to the State and local public and private agencies and community-based organizations to carry out various programs. The new CAPTA state grant eligibility requirement mandates healthcare providers making identification and appropriate referral of newborns affected by prenatal drug exposure to CPS. This category encompassed infants diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). The FASD exposure is five and sixteen times more likely to occur among African American