Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Essay

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.

Child abuse in America is an ongoing problem and something needs to be done. There are approximately one million children abused annually in the United States. (Table 339) Cases of child abuse and neglect are reported every ten seconds, and researchers believe that there’s three times that amount that goes unnoticed. (Child Abuse: Know the Signs and Stop the Violence Against Children.) Something needs to be done for these children who are too weak and too powerless to help themselves.

Child abuse is epidemic in many countries as well as the United States. It is estimated that every thirteen seconds a child is abused in some manner: physically, sexually, emotionally or by neglect (Friedman). Each year, there are over 3 million reports of child abuse in the United States involving more than 6 million children. Child abuse can be reduced with proper education of the parents and with greater public awareness.

It is a reasonable argument that child welfare service entities are necessary as it is all too frequent that child abuse/neglect cases are heard all over the nation and is ultimately a world health issues.  Increasing social issues such as unstable families, poverty, crime, poor education, lack of access to health care and mental health services are some of the factors that contribute to this continuous epidemic that affects many people from various socio-economic classes. Many nations have taken steps to enhance and improve efforts in the fight against the mistreatment of children.

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 more than 1.8 million investigations done every year and on average, killing more than 5 children every day. The main issue of child abuse is that the abuser is usually someone a child loves or depends on (a 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

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 National Children 's Alliance reported that the number of unique cases of abused and neglected children in the United States stands at an annual rate of 700,000 and rising (as cited in ?U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,? 2016, p. ii). Sadly, this means that more than 1,900 new children become victims of abuse and neglect with each passing day. Neglect was the type of

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.

Westat found that professionals failed to report many of the children they saw who had signs of child abuse and neglect. It found that in 1986, 56 percent of apparently abused or neglected children, or about 500,000 children, were not reported to the authorities. This figure, however, seems more alarming than it is: Basically, the more serious the case, the more likely the report. For example, the surveyed professionals reported over 85 percent of the fatal or serious physical abuse cases they saw, 72 percent of the sexual abuse cases, and 60 percent of the moderate physical abuse cases. They only reported 15 percent of the educational neglect cases they saw, 24 percent of the emotional neglect cases, and 25 percent of the moderate physical neglect cases.

in a number of ways. It has changed the way that society views child abuse and neglect, which has, in turn, benefited the psychological, emotional, and developmental health of children throughout the country. When the act was developed, congress estimated that approximately 60,000 children throughout the United States were victims of abuse or neglect, yet there was no certain way to measure or calculate the extent of the problem (CAPTA, 2014). As a result of this act, policies were put into place to define and measure child abuse and neglect, therefore making it easier to attack. Throughout the years, CAPTA has evolved and each amendment or revision has strengthened the protection that the act offers to children. Some of these revisions included protections for the homeless or those at risk of becoming homeless, foster youth, and created community based resources for families with a high risk of experiencing abuse and neglect (CAPTA, 2014). The effects of this policy; however, do not lie strictly within the lines of personal

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.

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

     In 2012, an estimated 1,642 children died due to child abuse and neglect, which is 4.5 children every day (Fromm). Approximately 4 out of every 5 are under 5-years-old and children under 1 account for 2 out of 5 of all fatalities. Children under 5 are more likely to die from child abuse due to lack of ability to cope with abuse. Children’s bodies are more fragile and it is easier for an individual to physically harm a small child rather than older children who can somewhat fight back.

Child abuse prevention must first begin with understanding the different types of abuse. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) defines abuse as the motive, act, or lack of

In the current period more than ever, to prevent any unsuitable behavior, it must be well justified and financially prepared. There is little information available about the global economic costs of violence against children. However, the bill for such actions against children proves to be high. The variety of short and long term consequences associated with violence against children suggests that there are significant economic costs to society. Thus, the U.S., the cost of abuse and neglect was about 103.8 billion USD in 2007, the estimated annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2008 is $124 billion. including both direct costs associated with early intervention, medical treatment and associated psychological and indirect consequences related to long-term ill-treatment at individual and societal.