Child Protection Services

Child protective services (CPS) is a government agency located in many states across the United States that helps children stay away from harm and abuse. Child protective services and its agencies plays a big role in society. Children of all ages are assaulted and most of the times by a dearest loved one. Child abuse is defined as any type of neglect upon a child including mentally, physically, and sexually.

Other health problems arise when the trauma from past experiences such as abuse or violence in the home cause long term effects in the children. The needs of children in foster care are multifaceted and the problems are exacerbated when the resources in the community are scarce and when the service system is fragmented (Halfon, Berkowitz, & Klee, 1993). Due to the complexity of their problems and the degree of vulnerability, a well-trained and

America has a staggering problem among its youths and is in desperate need of help. Every day, young, innocent children are being abused. Unfortunately, this rate only seems to be growing as the foster care system is becoming flooded with children who need help. According to the website, Foster Club, a child is entered into the foster care system every two minutes. The reasoning for a child being placed in foster care can range, but mostly it is because of abuse. These traumatizing experiences and memories can hinder a person for the rest of their life. These kids find themselves in a terrible situation and learn ways to cope with the pain. It can be easy to judge their behaviors but for somebody with a normal life we can never understand the trials that they have had to live through. Fortunately, the psychological damage that is done can be reversed but in order to understand this fully we first need to know the negative psychological affects abuse can have on a person.

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is basically a conjoint parent and child psychotherapy approach for kids and teenagers who are undergoing significant behavioral and emotional difficulties pertaining to traumatic life events (Jensen et al., 2014). In essence, it is a components-based treatment model incorporating trauma-sensitive interventions with family, cognitive behavioral, as well as humanistic techniques and principles. Parents and

“Traumatic experiences and an increased susceptibility for further wounds from unstable environments created in foster care continue to increase the vulnerability of this already fragile

2. Cowger, C. (1994). Assessing client strengths: clinical assessment for client empowerment. Social Work, 262 - 268.

There are different types of trauma child welfare programs focus on. They typically focus on behavioral and emotional problems and ways to correct the child (Greeson et al. 94). However, it is not as simple as the welfare programs want it to be. One first must look at the trauma history of the child, or the “Trauma History Profile”, also known as THP (Greeson et al. 97). The THP addresses “lifetime exposure to trauma and contains a

Child Protective Services (CPS) is a complex system of assessments, investigations, and conclusions. CPS is the central agency in each communities child abuse and neglect service system. It is responsible for ensuring that preventative, investigative, and treatment services are available to children and families endangered by child abuse and neglect. As a result, CPS workers must perform a variety of functions when responding to situations of child maltreatment and play a variety of roles throughout their involvement with child protective clients. Reporting a suspective case of child maltreatment to the local CPS agency (or a family member’s own request for help with the problem) initiates

TF-CBT was originally developed in 1997 and was eventually published in book form in 2006, by Judith Cohen, Anthony Mannarino, and Esther Deblinger, a team of professionals studying interventions for child sexual abuse survivors. TF-CBT is a merger of earlier trauma-focused approaches that were originally directed toward treatment for child sexual abuse survivors (Cohen et

Most youth in foster care have traumatic family histories and life experiences (including the removal from their birth family) that result in an increased risk for mental health disorders. A study of children in foster care revealed that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was diagnosed in 60% of sexually abused children and in 42% of the physically abused children (Dubner & Motta, 1999). The study also found that 18% of foster children who had not experienced either type of abuse had PTSD, possibly because of exposure to domestic or community violence (Marsenich, 2002).

Growing up in the foster care system can be a traumatic experience for most of the children in this population. This study takes a closer look at certain types of abuse, rather than traumatic experiences suffered extensively, that ultimately led to the diagnosis of PTSD. Most of the abuse consisted of either rape, torture, and/or molestation. The methods and data were obtained from 732 foster care adolescents, ranging from 17 to 18 years of age. The study assessed the trauma within the DSM-V that the participants were exposed during their lifetime, and the diagnosis of PTSD that followed. The results of this study showed that 80.3 percent of the participants were exposed to at least one major traumatic experience, with 61.7

This discussion is a review of the Cognitive Behavior Intervention for Trauma in Schools program also known as CBITS. This discussion will include an overview of the program and descriptions of components that are included within the program. The program has been introduced into two other programs that are specifically for children that have experienced trauma and how the program effected children who have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The implementation and effectiveness of this program and its transportability will be discussed. Cost Effectiveness and the quality of care that is received by the clients will also be evaluated. The program will also be reviewed for factors that will influence a provider’s decision to utilize the program and possible institutional obstacles and possible future opportunities will also be discussed.

The authors focus on the component based psychotherapy model to assist with treating adult survivors of childhood trauma stemming from emotional abuse and neglect. They insist that although new models are emerging to assist adults with resolving childhood trauma they are mostly geared towards diagnosis of PTSD. The authors use evidence to support that the best way to handle emotional and neglect childhood trauma is in parts and not the whole to prevent manifestations of unhealthy behaviors from occurring or reoccurring. The focal of the journal is to assist with an uncommon portion of childhood trauma in adults that does not receive much review.

The prior studies all looked at out-patients and how important TF-CBT was in helping reduce symptoms of severe stress or trauma, however, they only glanced over how important it is to not only provide the child with services but the other family members or parents of the child as well and even the entire community in some settings. First and foremost interventions are generally 12-16 weeks long and begin with the individual child or adolescent. Interventions focus on teaching the individual, that begin to address the individual’s feelings and discusses feeling identification, then the introduction of cognitive triangle is brought in which is how thoughts affect behavior which in turn affects the individuals feelings. Next is stress inoculation

Taking the TF-CBT training gave me a understanding of how to manage and provide services to children and families who experience traumatic events in their life. The training which consisted of different modules of techiniques to help identify and teach (to list a few) breathing techniques, stress management, and cognitive processing skills for children and parents, help parents optimize their childrens emotions and behavioral adjustment, and encourage children to share the traumatic experience ethier verbally or in the form of writing. Mastering these techniques will help me to improve quality care of traumtized children and families, reduce the impact of traumatic events, help children and families with coping skills and teach body/ awareness in sex education in case of physical and or sexual maltreatment.