Should Social Workers Be Mandated Reporters?

Many of the children who are placed into the care of Child Protective Services are situated into hellish foster homes with people who only care about the money they receive from the government for each child that is placed under their roof; and not for the welfare of the children. Numerous amounts of children that are caught up in the system, especially

Child welfare systems are designed to ensure the safety and well-being of children and families. The mission of this system is a noble one and can be very rewarding and beneficial for all involved.  Ironically, that same system that is designed to help families in times of crisis can be, harsh and challenging to families and social workers.

I need to start by admitting that this video was difficult to watch! Within a few seconds of watching the video I was reminded of the level of difficulty of the social work profession. As described in the video, Child Protection Services’ role is to protect children from neglect and abuse (Mierendorf, 2000). Similarly, social workers play several significant and complex roles within child advocacy. Social workers need to ensure the safety and well-being of children and be their voice when they are being silenced or maltreated. Social workers need to identify the abuse and address the situation accordingly. This could be particularly difficult when is in the best interest of children to be removed from their

A social worker is obligated to report suspected abuse or neglect of a vulnerable adult as under section 42 of Care Act 2014 safeguarding regulations this is a reasonable cause for a Local Authority to conduct an enquiry (Care Act, 2014c.23:P1:s42). Hence, even when working with family carers, social workers remain vigilant as according to Age UK (2016) 50 vulnerable people per hour are abused or neglected within their own home by people known to them. Accountability could explain social workers’ preference to undertake the assessments of both carer and who they care for at the same time as discrepancies, like those which may cause alarm, can be clarified easier by working simultaneously with the carer and ‘patient’ (Knapp and Hewison, 1999). Likewise, Campbell Reay and Browne (2001) state that in-depth knowledge of the carers’

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

Social Workers –become involved in monitoring the child usually when the parents have asked for help or there is an ongoing concern in regards to the child’s home.

If it is found that the child may be at risk of harm or abuse social workers will:

When dealing with suspected physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect it is important for every staff member, including support staff, to be aware of how to manage the initial contact with the child, if there is any, and then the appropriate reporting procedure.

Social workers want more people to know about the situations they face but at the same time they are not allowed to put important business out there. The problem with parents is that they don’t even want to focus on the ones they had so why adopt another. Poverty is a world issue and

Moreover, according to the evidence found by Congress about 37% of the victims of child abuse and neglect have not received post-investigation services on 2008. When discussing this matter it is important to remember that one of the main purposes of this law was to provide a feeling of security and safety to those who have been victims of child abuse and neglect. When CAPTA was established it was required for each state to provide programs that would help the

Reporting child abuse is a serious matter. It is okay to report neglect or abuse because they may feel that the child is in danger. As long as they report it to the right authority they are not violating the law. HIPPA allows this type of disclosure without parental or guardian permission. The guardian should be verbally notified unless it would place the child at risk. In some states they are required to report names of people with positive HIV test to public health authorities for infectious diseases surveillance. If I was ever in a situation where I had to report a serious a matter I would not go around telling everyone according to the HIPAA you must always report to the appropriate authority. I would not want to jeopardize my job by violating

Child protection concerns play a large part in Social Work practice, which is underpinned by law, policy, organisational procedures and public enquiries regarding how the Government try to prevent abuse from going unseen (Hothersall 2010).

Social workers should not participate in, condone, or be associated with dishonesty or fraud. Any instances of misconduct should be reported to management immediately.

Also when becoming a social worker, the job will require that everyone who is involved in the situation is receiving help. According to the Child Care Careers book this may include giving individual help to every person in the situation. Such as, if the mother is a drug addict, she may require some rehab. Or if the father is very ill, he will need medical attention. Or if the parent(s) and a little insane or have brain trouble, they might need to go to an insane asylum.

The issue of child abuse and neglect is serious, controversial, and is escalating in today’s society. Many people are not aware, but child abuse is rampant in our society. Many child abuse and neglect cases go unreported because a person may not know the signs and symptoms of child abuse and neglect or perhaps the person or person may feel that this is an private issue and needs to be handle with in the home and no outsiders should be involved. Without the proper awareness of child abuse and neglect and the involvement of everyone this issue will continue to raise our eyebrows.