The Goal Of The Child Welfare System

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 has been a big issue in the world for a long time. There has not always been child protective services like there is now. Children would be abused and neglected and nothing was being done because it was not being reported. The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was the world’s first organization in the late 1800s which was dedicated totally to child protection (Myers, 2008).

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 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.

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

The question on the minds of a lot of people is: “Should child welfare regulations be

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

For 30 years, advocates, program administrators, and politicians have joined to encourage even more reports of suspected child abuse and neglect. Their efforts have been successful, with about three million cases of suspected child abuse having been reported in 1993. Large numbers of endangered children still go unreported, but a serious problem had developed: Upon investigation, as many as 65 percent or the reports now being made are determined to be "unsubstantiated", raising serious civil liberties concerns and placing a huge burden on investigative staffs.

My field placement will be at Child protective services in El Paso TX. My Target population for my field placement will be Children who have been maltreated, neglected and abused. Child abuse prevention has grown exponentially in El Paso over the past 31 years. In El Paso alone the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services investigated 4,979 reports of alleged child abuse in 2014 in El Paso County. They confirmed that 1,339 children were indeed victims of abuse; 379 confirmed cases of Physical abuse, 166 confirmed cases of sexual abuse, 56 cases of emotional abuse and 70 cases of medical neglect (Lee & Beulah Moor,2016) A troubling trend has emerged regarding the prevention of child maltreatment in the state of Texas. A tragic loophole contributing to continued abuse and in many cases child fatalities, continues to be exploited to the detriment of one of our most vulnerable populations. From 2009 to 2014, there were 800 child fatalities reported as abuse and neglect deaths by Child Protective Services in all of Texas (Ball, 2015). An analysis of these cases by an independent research group found gross errors by CPS and other agencies during ongoing abuse cases enabled the abuse or neglect to continue, inevitably leading to death. Although the percentage of child fatalities is just a tiny fraction of the exorbitant

The enactment of major federal legislation in the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA), focused a national spotlight on the development and well-being of children who have experienced child maltreatment. This legislation mandates public child welfare systems to meet the safety, permanency, and well-being needs of families and children, including children who have been placed in foster care. These mandates include maintaining children safely in their own homes, returning children to their families when possible, and providing services to families that promote their ability to meet the needs of their children (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,[USDHHS], 2011a). However, a recent national evaluation of public child welfare systems indicated that no state had met standards of substantial conformity with these mandates (USDHHS, 2011a). The reasons cited for poor conformity with standards related to maintaining children safely in their homes and providing family services to promote well-being included inaccurate assessment of the needs of families and

The DfES (2005) have emphasised in their current legislation that ‘safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child’ which by definition is the process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development.’ (DfES 2005a, p11). Working together to safeguard children (HM Government 2005a p 19) state child protection as “the activity which is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering or at risk of suffering significant harm’’.The DfES (2005) have emphasised in their current legislation that ‘safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child’ which by definition is the process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development.’

Child welfare is one of the most important sociological topics today. It is a concept that is used to describe the combination of efforts and services that are designed with the primary objective of maintaining and promoting the safety as well as the wellbeing of children and ensuring that families have the necessary support they need to ensure that their children have been successfully cared for. In essence, child welfare is social work that is focused on the welfare of children (Keddell, 2014). Child welfare is a broad topic that involves, among others, child protection from abuse, support for families to effectively care for their children, investigation of child maltreatments and neglect, and support for children in

Child abuse and neglect are considered a social phenomenon that plays a crucial role in American society as well as in the American criminal justice system. All types of ages, genders, ethnicities at some point or another are represented as victims or perpetrators of child abuse or neglect. Child abuse includes physical, psychological and sometimes sexual abuse to a person who is below the age of 18. Child abuse or neglect victims tend to grow up with long terms consequences such as low self-esteem, depression, and other major consequences such as engaging in criminal behavior as adults, teen pregnancy and not to mention the severity of physical child abuse consequences can end up in a death of an innocent victim. This literature

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, psychological abuse, and neglect. However, doing most of the history of child abuse was accepted and in some cases it was encouraged. As time progressed child abuse has grown to receive more attention and is being recognized as a severe epidemic that has to be stopped. 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