My Field Placement Will Be At Child Protective Services

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.

Awareness and recognition of child maltreatment issues has had a positive impact upon many families who have benefited from the interventions being offered.  In the United States, billions of dollars are

Some courts and social service workers are unable to identify signs of child abuse and child abuse that goes unnoticed can create some very violent outcomes. This can be best shown in the cases of Jacob Ind and Nathan Ybanez, two juveniles in Colorado, who killed their parents. Both Ind and Ybanez were abused physically, emotionally, and sexually by their parents. When Jacob Ind’s older brother went to social services to ask them to help his brother, they didn’t even open an investigation into his report. As a result Ind continued to suffer abuse at home until he couldn’t take it any longer and he killed his mother and stepfather.

Child maltreatment is an issue that most social workers will face throughout their career. Although there are many causes to a child being neglected, sexually or physically abused; studies have shown that poverty is in many cases linked to child maltreatment. There are currently 488 counties in America where twenty percent of the population has lived below the poverty line for the past thirty years or more (Clyburn, 2014). Studies have shown that poverty is linked to child abuse and neglect. With poverty comes the stresses of housing and instability, childcare burden, substance availability and susceptibility to crime in order to satisfy material needs. And in the midst of all of this, there are children who are being targeted by their parent or guardian when life becomes too difficult to endure.

In Texas, there were more than 30,000 children in foster care on any given day in 2015. 23% of which were in Dallas and surrounding counties, more than any other region in Texas (DFPS). These children are victims of incredible abuse and neglect in their own homes, until the state intervenes and places them into the foster care system. Unfortunately, these children’s situations do not improve, but instead go from bad to worse. This was the case for Jean, a former foster care child who went from an abusive home to being a child sex trafficking victim. In the Texas Tribune article in which Jean’s story is told in excruciating detail, Edgar Walters and co. say that out of the estimated 79,000 child sex trafficking victims, “the vast majority were

Communities are not receiving enough funding to help that many cases every year. Three hundred thousand children do not receive any services after initial investigation was done (Mcleod and Nelson 2013). The most serious cases of child abuse are receiving resources while families or children with less serious problems are receiving little to zero resources (Mcleod and Nelson 2013). Failing to prevent or treat child abuse in children can be very negative and have negative outcomes with attachment, school, commitment, and so forth (Mcleod and Nelson 2013). If children cannot get the help they need after having an initial investigation, they will have trouble trusting anyone and their attachment bond to peers could really weaken. Funding for child abuse is shrinking (Stein 1984). Funding for CAPTA was reduced from $23 million in 1982 to $16.2 million (Stein 1984). With this cutback, many states had to cut back on programs and staff working with the programs (Stein

Children get abused and die everyday of abuse and neglect. In 2005 1,460 died throughout the year of child abuse or neglect. The majority of kids who get abused are mostly 3 years or younger (77 percent ). The United States has one of the worst records, losing on average of 3-7 kids everyday to child abuse or neglect. Throughout the year there are referrals to the state child protective services that involve 6.6 million children, and about 3.2 million of the children are subject to an investigated report. Being abused as a kid can damage the kid for life, child abuse needs to stop.

“According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families, in 2005 approximately 3.3 million allegations of child abuse and neglect were made to child-protective services”. Now, those are just allegations. Half of the time, a child is not even aware of the abuse and they just see it as a normal day practice in their childhood because that is all they are surrounded

It breaks my heart to know that child abuse has a history and throughout history children have been subjected to extensive physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. I believe that the views of child abuse has changed over the years for it has left the home from being a private issue to a public issue where different agencies are involved in order to resolve the child abuse and neglect issue. Agencies that take part in investigating and preventing child abuse in today’s time are the Family and Protective Services, SCAN, and several more agencies that are committed to stopping child abuse and neglect.

For many centuries the laws and federal agencies have failed to protect kids from Child abuse. Child Abuse is a substantial conflict around the world. Approximately five children die every day due to child abuse, something that can easily be prevented. It is time to change this number to zero. No kid deserves to feel the way they feel after being abused; emotionally, physically, or even sexually. The definition of child abuse is a parent or caregiver reflecting violent pain or neglect towards a child. The rate of kids that are being abused should decrease to make this society more effective for kids to feel secure and comfortable with their surroundings. The fact that children have to experience such life scaring memories for the rest of

Child abuse is a big issue that needs to be stopped. The definition of child abuse is “mistreatment of a child by a parent or guardian, including neglect, beating and sexual molestation” (“Dictonary” 1). Parents should be loving, caring, and not abusing the child for no intention. When abuse occurs, there are numerous consequences. In minor cases, “parents have to go through parent training” (“Legal Consequences” 1). In more extreme cases, kids may be placed in foster care temporarily or permanently and in extreme cases, complete forfeiture of parental rights. Child mistreatment can go from diminutive problems occurring which

Throughout the United States, there is nothing rare about child abuse being brought to the attention of Social Workers and other human services professionals. Maltreatment of children can come in multiple forms, and affect children in a multitude of ways, but this overview will specifically focus on child abuse. The National Children’s Alliance (NCADV) (2015), indicated almost 4 out of 5 (78.1%) abused children are abused by their parents. Close to 700,000 children experience abuse annually.

In 2011, an estimated 676,569 children were victims of child abuse or neglect (“Long-Term Consequences”). Of these over 600 thousand an estimated 1,580 children died as a result of abuse or neglect, that is roughly 5 each day (“Abuse Facts”). This statistic is drastically undercounted due to large sums of reports never being made. In addition, these numbers are growing rapidly. Child maltreatment has significant effects on the growth and future of that child, therefore, more people should be able to identify the signs of abuse and adults who abuse children should be given harsher punishment.

In 2008, the Children's Defense Fund reported that every day in America, 2,421 children are confirmed as abused or neglected, 4 children are killed by misuse or negligence, and 78 babies die before their first birthday. These daily estimates translate into tremendous national figures. In 2006, an estimated 905,000 reports of child abuse or neglect were verified. Of these, 64% suffered negligence, 16% were physically abused, 9% were sexually abused, 7% were emotionally or psychologically mistreated, and 2% were medically neglected. In addition, 15% of the victims experienced "other" types of abuse such as neglect, threats of child harm and addiction to congenital drugs (national Data system on child abuse and Neglect, 2006). Obviously, this