The Importance Of Children's Protective 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.

The definition of child protection is the process of protecting individual children identified as either suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm because of abuse or neglect. The term child protection is increasingly being replaced by ‘safeguarding’. Safeguarding has been described as; ‘a broader definition of the range of ways in which adults and professionals working with children need to act when dealing with child protection issues’(Ref: www.education.gov.uk/) Safeguarding refers to the prevention of harm to children and child protection is used more when dealing with policies and procedures following an event of suspected harm.

If any professional becomes concerned that a child might be at risk of abuse, be it physical, sexual, emotional or neglect, it is their legal duty to pass on such concerns to the appropriate professionals who can assess if and what action should be taken. In cases where it will not put the child at greater risk or danger, the parents / carers of the child will be informed that such action has been taken.

Child abuse is an issue within society that effects the lives of not only the victims but also the lives of many people in the social order. Child abuse is any mistreatment or neglect of a child that results in non-accidental injury or harm and which cannot be logically explained. There are several forms of abuse and neglect and many state governments have developed their own legal description of what constitutes child maltreatment for the purposes of removing a child and prosecuting a criminal charge. Child abuse consists of different forms of harm including physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect.

The controversial issue of whether or not Child Protective Services are doing their jobs properly, has grabbed nationwide attention. Child Protective Services is the name of a government agency in many states of the United States whose mission is to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect. Some of these cases may include physical abuse, sexual abuse, and mental abuse (Wikipedia). The child welfare system is corrupted. The parents and guardians who are accused of abuse are automatically labeled as guilty and will have to prove their innocence; instead of being innocent until proven guilty.

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.

Defining child abuse is a complicated issue. First, currently the United States does not have a standard definition of child abuse because each state has their definition. Definitions are different at the state and federal level. Child welfare agencies also may have different child abuse and neglect definitions. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) define child abuse and neglect as any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker that result in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation; an act or failure to act that presents an imminent risk of serious harm (Child Abuse and Neglect User Manual, 2003;

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

As can be seen there are many different organisations involved when there is any suspicion that a child may have been abused or actually harmed.

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.

The Children’s Bureau was founded in 1912 but did not really do much about child abuse and neglect until 1960.The Department of Children and Family Services has the main focus of protecting children through investigation of suspected abuse or neglect by parent’s caregivers or people in a position of trust with authority over the child (ren). The Social Security Act of 1935 provided money to expand child welfare in 1962. Prior to 1974 the Federal government played a useful but minor role in child protection.

Causes/Effects of Child Abuse and the Role of a Social Justice Approach in Identifying, Preventing, and Responding to Child Abuse Name University Date Causes/Effects of Child Abuse and the Role of a Social Justice Approach in Identifying, Preventing, and Responding to Child Abuse According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (2016), in 2014, almost 6.6 million children were reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) due to reports of child maltreatment. Child abuse refers to acts of violence that are done on the child, including neglect, which means that the parent/caregiver fails to pay attention and respond to the child’s physical, social, emotional, and mental needs (Mottarella, 2006, p. 237). Parent-based child abuse occurs when parents themselves hurt their children physically, sexually, and/or psychologically (Mottarella, 2006). Besides parents as offenders, institutional child abuse also occurs, such as those happening in schools and churches.

In 1997, over 3,195,000 children were reported to child protective services (CPS) agencies (Lucinda Almond). Fifteen out of every 1,000 US children were substantiated as victims of child maltreatment (Lucinda Almond). Five categories were provided: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, emotional maltreatment and others (Lucinda Almond). In the US many families reported for child abuse often display a number of problems, which most likely contribute to their likelihood for engaging in abusive behavior (Lucinda Almond). Many behaviors of child abuse are alcohol abuse, dependency, threat of harm, and bizarre discipline (Lucinda Almond). Neglect is the most common type of reported child maltreatment. Neglect is any action on the part of a caregiver that causes physical or emotional harm. When a child is neglected he or she may soon become depressed or suicidal. Abandonment is another type of neglect (Lyness D’Arcy). This is when a child is left alone for a

Child abuse is at its peak in today's world. It has multiple forms. It is usually referred as physical, sexual or emotional exploitation or negligence of a child. Department for Children And Families (DCF) define child abuse as acts of commission parent or other guardian that consequences in damage, probability for destruction, or risk of harm to a child. Child abuse can occur at many places like child's home, organizations, schools or publics the child interacts or communicates with

Child protective services is a report of child abuse or child neglect. The responsibility of the government or a private institution (Petr 1). In 2013 there were 3.2 million kids in the child protective services. Here we are in 2016 and the number had risen ( Friedersdorf 1).Child protective services are meant to access and provide services to children and families in an effort to protect children. They provide numerous amount of treatment services The kids were either abused,neglected, or exploited (Depanfilis 1). Child protective services only gets involved if they hear about you mistreating your kids or if you are going through some personal issues such as living environment or money issues. Basically they go off he say she say. They’re never in a predicament where